Fermat's Last Theorem. The Story of a Riddle That Confounded the World's Greatest Minds for 358 Years

London England: Fourth Estate. Very Good. 1997. 7th Edition. Cloth. 12mo - over 6¾" - 7¾" Tall Duodecimo 1857025210 Hardback Hardback. Fermat's Last Theorem. Foreword by John Lynch, Editor of BBC Horizon. 'I Have Discovered a Truly Marvellous Proof, Which This Margin Is Too Narrow To Contain....' With these tantalising words the seventeenth-century French mathematician Pierre de Fermat threw down the gauntlet to future generations. Fermat's last Theorem looked simple enough for a child to solve, yet the finest mathematical minds would be baffled by the search for proof. Over three hundred and fifty years were to pass before a mild-mannered Englishman finally cracked the mystery in 1995. Fermat by them was far more than a theorem. Whole lived had been devoted to the quest for a solution. There was Sophie Germain, who had to take on the identity of a man to conduct research in a field forbidden to females. The dashing Evariste Galots scribbled down the results of his research deep into the night before sauntering out to die in a duel. The Japanese genius Yutake Taniyama killed himself in despair, while the German industrialist Paul Wolfskehi claimed Fermat had saved him from suicide. Andrew Wiles had dreamed of proving Fermat ever since he first read about the theorem as a boy of ten in his local library. Whilst the hopes of others had been dashed, his dream was destined to come true - but only after years of toil and frustration, of exhilarating breakthrough and crashing disappointment. The true astory of how mathematics' most challenging problem was made to yield up its secrets is a thrilling tale of endurance, ingenuity and inspiration. 362 pp. (We carry a wide selection of titles in The Arts, Theology, History, Politics, Social and Physical Sciences. academic and scholarly books and Modern First Editions, Reference books ,and all types of Academic Literature.) .