Andrew Wiles
English mathematician at Oxford University in number theory.
Page 1 of 1
Fermat couldn't possibly have had this proof.
But what has made this problem special for amateurs is that there's a tiny possibility that there does exist an elegant 17th-century proof.
However impenetrable it seems, if you don't try it, then you can never do it.
But perhaps that's always the way with math problems, and we just have to find new ones to capture our attention.
Certainly one thing that I've learned is that it is important to pick a problem based on how much you care about it.
I had this rare privilege of being able to pursue in my adult life, what had been my childhood dream.
Young children simply aren't interested in Fermat. They just want to hear a story and they're not going to let you do anything else.
Always try the problem that matters most to you.
I hope that seeing the excitement of solving this problem will make young mathematicians realize that there are lots and lots of other problems in mathematics which are going to be just as challenging in the future.
I grew up in Cambridge in England, and my love of mathematics dates from those early childhood days.
I don't believe Fermat had a proof. I think he fooled himself into thinking he had a proof.
I really believed that I was on the right track, but that did not mean that I would necessarily reach my goal.
I realized that anything to do with Fermat's Last Theorem generates too much interest.
I know it's a rare privilege, but if one can really tackle something in adult life that means that much to you, then it's more rewarding than anything I can imagine.
I loved doing problems in school. I'd take them home and make up new ones of my own.
Fermat was my childhood passion.
But the best problem I ever found, I found in my local public library. I was just browsing through the section of math books and I found this one book, which was all about one particular problem -- Fermat's Last Theorem.
Here was a problem, that I, a ten year old, could understand and I knew from that moment that I would never let it go. I had to solve it.
Page 1 of 1