Simon Singh
Paperback | Pages: 315 pages Rating: 4.25 | 24142 Users | 1074 Reviews
Declare Books Concering Fermat's Enigma: The Epic Quest to Solve the World's Greatest Mathematical Problem
| Original Title: | Fermat's Enigma: The Epic Quest to Solve the World's Greatest Mathematical Problem |
| ISBN: | 0385493622 (ISBN13: 9780385493628) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Literary Awards: | Royal Society Science Book Prize Nominee for General Prize (1998), Independent Publisher Book Award (IPPY) for Science (1998) |
Narration In Favor Of Books Fermat's Enigma: The Epic Quest to Solve the World's Greatest Mathematical Problem
xn + yn = zn, where n represents 3, 4, 5, ...no solution "I have discovered a truly marvelous demonstration of this proposition which this margin is too narrow to contain." With these words, the seventeenth-century French mathematician Pierre de Fermat threw down the gauntlet to future generations. What came to be known as Fermat's Last Theorem looked simple; proving it, however, became the Holy Grail of mathematics, baffling its finest minds for more than 350 years. In Fermat's Enigma--based on the author's award-winning documentary film, which aired on PBS's "Nova"--Simon Singh tells the astonishingly entertaining story of the pursuit of that grail, and the lives that were devoted to, sacrificed for, and saved by it. Here is a mesmerizing tale of heartbreak and mastery that will forever change your feelings about mathematics.Identify Epithetical Books Fermat's Enigma: The Epic Quest to Solve the World's Greatest Mathematical Problem
| Title | : | Fermat's Enigma: The Epic Quest to Solve the World's Greatest Mathematical Problem |
| Author | : | Simon Singh |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Special Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 315 pages |
| Published | : | September 8th 1998 by Anchor (first published September 8th 1997) |
| Categories | : | Science. Nonfiction. Mathematics. History. Popular Science. Biography. Historical |
Rating Epithetical Books Fermat's Enigma: The Epic Quest to Solve the World's Greatest Mathematical Problem
Ratings: 4.25 From 24142 Users | 1074 ReviewsCriticize Epithetical Books Fermat's Enigma: The Epic Quest to Solve the World's Greatest Mathematical Problem
Most interesting non-fiction book I have ever read.Simon Singh's style of weaving a scientific concept into a beautiful story leaves no occasion for the fictional characters and plots. The narration flows like acetone. The book starts with the climax moment of a 358 year old struggle Fermat's last theorem. Singh's writing style paints the whole view (awestruck people, ecstatic protagonist, exuberant surroundings) in front of your eyes. Singh is successful in seizing reader's undivided attentionSimon Singh has the ability to present a story about a mathematics problem, and tell it like a detective story. He makes the subject exciting, even though the outcome is well known. Singh intersperses history with discussions about the mathematics, and makes it quite understandable. Singh starts with the roots of the famous Fermat's Last Theorem, by recounting the stories and mathematics of Pythagoras, Euclid, and Euler. Other, less well-known mathematicians are also given credit, for example
The story starts with Pierre de Fermat, one of the all-time great mathematicians, who claimed he could prove that the equation (an + bn = cn) has no whole number solutions when n is greater than 2. There are some near misses (e.g., 63 + 83 = 93 1), but no numbers that make the equation balance properly.Andrew WilesGiven that there are infinitely many possible numbers to check it was quite a claim, but Fermat was absolutely sure that no numbers fitted the equation because he had a logical
This book finds a way to narrate the chain of events from the time of Pythagoras to the final proof of Fermat's last theorem by Andrew Wiles, entwining with it the key mathematical concepts presented in an accessible form and stories of the mathematicians who made those contributions. It conveys perfectly to a layman the sense of accomplishment that the mathematical community associates with cracking the proof for this theorem. In that sense, it has the effect of a self-help book even without
Reading this book I caught a glimpse of the rarefied atmosphere of mathematicians and their processes of discovery. I don't do mathematics and haven't studied anything beyond the bare minimum required for a Bachelor's degree, but I find something wonderful about the pursuits of people like Andrew Wiles and the number theorists who spend years of their lives working on a set of problems. Wiles's obsessive mindset and solitary quest reminded of Ron Carlson's short story "Towel Season" and I wonder
What a fun book this was (thanks, Trevor, for the recommendation)! There are many reasons I think I like (good) nonfiction -- a sense of direct relevance, gravitas, frequent insights into the workings of the universe (and people), but mostly for knowledge narcs -- high levels of information density served up into an intriguing package by someone else who has undertaken the heavy lifting (research, organization, thinking). So, here in Singh's work I get a solid lay understanding not only of the
Strap in, guys. Im going to walk you through the history of how Fermats Last Theorum was proved, all in one little (okay, big) review. And I can do this because of this awesome, semi-accessible, frequently tangent-taking, but mostly, this deeply fascinating book.----------STEP ONE: THE THEORUM----------For the unenlightened, Fermats Last Theorum is this: you probably know the Pythagorean theorum, a² + b² = c², which explains that if you square the shorter two sides of a right-angled triangle and
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