2 days ago
- Andrew Wiles dedicated much of his career to proving Fermat's Last Theorem, a 300-year-old unsolved problem he first encountered at age 10.
- Fermat's Last Theorem states that the equation x^n + y^n = z^n has no integer solutions for n>2, which Fermat claimed to have proven but didn't provide the proof.
- In 1986, Ken Ribet linked Fermat's Last Theorem to the Taniyama-Shimura conjecture, making the problem mainstream and acceptable for Wiles to work on.
- Wiles worked in isolation for seven years, driven by obsession, and made a breakthrough in May 1993, but an error in the proof required another year of work with Richard Taylor to fix.
- Wiles believes Fermat didn't have a proof, as his own proof is 150 pages and uses 20th-century techniques; he advises pursuing problems that matter most to you.
- After solving Fermat, Wiles feels a sense of sadness and freedom, noting the problem was his childhood passion but is now over.