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4.27 AVERAGE
4.27 AVERAGE
This was a completely delightful read. I love Simon Singh, and his book “The Code Book” is one of my all time favorites. You can tell he’s leaning into the thriller aspects of the 350 year journey that was solving Fermat’s Last Theorem, and writes with flourishes of the dramatic.
I had two big takeaways from this book:
1) While Andrew Wiles worked in complete isolation for 7 years to finally prove the last theorem, he built on the work of so many other mathematicians over the course of 4 centuries. He also collaborated with one mathematician in order to solve what could have been a fatal flaw of the proof. Mathematics is a community that builds on each other, and no one person can go at it completely alone.
2) The most exciting thing about Wiles’s proof was not the theorem the book is named for, but the proof of the Taniyama-Shimura Conjecture (which implies F.L.T. is true.) This conjecture connects two branches of mathematics in a revolutionary way, and until this, it had never been proven. Both the Taniyama-Shimura Conjecture and the Wiles proof of it were fascinating to read about.
I had two big takeaways from this book:
1) While Andrew Wiles worked in complete isolation for 7 years to finally prove the last theorem, he built on the work of so many other mathematicians over the course of 4 centuries. He also collaborated with one mathematician in order to solve what could have been a fatal flaw of the proof. Mathematics is a community that builds on each other, and no one person can go at it completely alone.
2) The most exciting thing about Wiles’s proof was not the theorem the book is named for, but the proof of the Taniyama-Shimura Conjecture (which implies F.L.T. is true.) This conjecture connects two branches of mathematics in a revolutionary way, and until this, it had never been proven. Both the Taniyama-Shimura Conjecture and the Wiles proof of it were fascinating to read about.
One of the best non-fiction books I have ever read. An absolute delight of a journey, written with great wit and a brilliant capacity for narration and generating intrigue.
This book works as a great introduction not only to Fermat's Last Theorem, but also as a general "historical" perspective of mathematics, although that's not its main purpose. It begin with a survey of what mathematics truly means , which inescapably goes back to Pythagoras, Euclid, Fermat and my personal hero, Euler.
From then on, the author begins to explore more modern approaches to mathematics, concluding with a very brief, layman-oriented explanation of modular forms, the elliptic curve, the Taniyama-Shimura Conjecture, and Wiles eventual proof of Fermat's Last Theorem.
Truly an ode to Mathematics and, therefore, to Beauty and the Transcendent.
This book works as a great introduction not only to Fermat's Last Theorem, but also as a general "historical" perspective of mathematics, although that's not its main purpose. It begin with a survey of what mathematics truly means , which inescapably goes back to Pythagoras, Euclid, Fermat and my personal hero, Euler.
From then on, the author begins to explore more modern approaches to mathematics, concluding with a very brief, layman-oriented explanation of modular forms, the elliptic curve, the Taniyama-Shimura Conjecture, and Wiles eventual proof of Fermat's Last Theorem.
Truly an ode to Mathematics and, therefore, to Beauty and the Transcendent.
Singh takes the centuries-long history behind Andrew Wiles' 150 page mathematical proof and makes it fascinating to popular readers. No complex grasp of mathematics or number theory is required, and yet one finishes this book with a feeling that some of the basic concepts have been understood, or at least they have been directly comprehended to be significant and fascinating entities. This is an engrossing narrative with approachable appendixes and rich suggestions for further reading. I truly enjoyed it.
adventurous
informative
fast-paced
no se como el autor hizo a las matemáticas algo tan interesante, pero pucha que escribe bien
people who gave this book less than 5 stars should not have the honor of having their hands on this book. Such a magnificent story and a must read for everyone who remotely likes math. There’s me skipping my preparation for my number theory (eliminatory stuff compared to wiles’ work) exam in two days to finish this book. P.S. Galois is the greatest mathematician of all time
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-paced
i was absolutely loving this, but as well as reading it for fun i was also using it to get me in the mood to write my personal statement. so by the time i got fully stuck into doing that i had stopped and i lost my momentum. hopefully i'll finish it at some point!
informative
medium-paced
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Minor: Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicide
challenging
informative
inspiring
medium-paced