Fermat's Last Theorem for Amateurs / Edition 1

by Paulo Ribenboim

Overview

In 1995, Andrew Wiles completed a proof of Fermat's Last Theorem. Although this was certainly a great mathematical feat, one shouldn't dismiss earlier attempts made by mathematicians and clever amateurs to solve the problem. In this book, aimed at amateurs curious about the history of the subject, the author restricts his attention exclusively to elementary methods that have produced rich results.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780387985084
Publisher:	Springer New York
Publication date:	02/11/1999
Edition description:	1999
Pages:	407
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.04(d)

Table of Contents

The Problem.- Special Cases.- 4 Interludes.- Algebraic Restrictions on Hypothetical Solutions.- Germain’s Theorem.- Interludes 5 and 6.- Arithmetic Restrictions on Hypothetical Solutions and on the Exponent.- Interludes 7 and 8.- Reformulations, Consequences, and Criteria.- Interludes 9 and 10.- The Local and Modular Fermat Problem.- Epilogue.

Editorial Reviews

From the reviews:

MATHEMATICAL REVIEWS

"The history of elementary approaches to Fermat is very rich indeed, and Ribenboim has arranged these approaches in a way that makes them accessible to interested readers without extensive mathematical backgrounds…both readable and fairly comprehensive. This book would likely be of great interest to an enthusiastic undergraduate with a basic knowledge of rings and fields. In addition to describing the history of one of the great problems in number theory, the book provides a gentle and well-motivated introduction to some important ideas in modern number theory…any reader who spends a few hours with this book is guaranteed to learn something new and interesting about Fermat’s last theorem."

From the Publisher