How Do You Understand Fermats Last Theorem?
In 1637, the Renaissance mathematician Pierre de Fermat scribbled an intriguing note in the margin of a mathematics book. On a page discussing the Pythagorean theorem-which states that the square of the hypotenuse of a right triangle is equal to the squares of its other two sides combined, or, in modern terms X2 + Y2 = Z2-Fermat said he had proven this equation false for any power greater than 2. Read on for the implications of this famous remark. Powers of 2 are no problem. Mathematicians have long known that there are an infinite number of solutions to the equation X2 + Y2 = Z2 , which is one of the basic premises of trigonometry (the study of triangles). The issue is with powers higher than 2, for which no solution had been discovered up until Fermat’s time-and which, even then, most mathematicians suspected did not exist. Fermat’s proof has never been found. Maddeningly, Fermat’s comment read in its entirety: “I have a truly marvelous proof of this proposition, which this margin is
