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Fermat's Last Theorem: Difference between revisions
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{{examples|Instances of Fermat's last theorem in fiction:}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* "Prove Fermat's last theorem" occurs as a problem in an [[Only Smart People May Pass]] setup in ''[[
* In ''[[GetBackers]]'', Lucky, the genius dog, is given a problem like this to solve. The dog answers that it's
== Film ==
* Appears briefly on a blackboard in the 2000 remake of ''[[Bedazzled]]''. Satan (Elizabeth Hurley as a [[Hot Teacher]]) erases it from the list of homework assignments while commenting, "You'll never use this stuff."▼
== Literature==
* In Arthur Porges' short story "The Devil and Simon Flagg", a mathematician [[Chess with Death|bets his soul]] that the Devil cannot prove Fermat's last theorem in twenty-four hours. {{spoiler|He wins.}}
** A problem that might be substituted for Fermat's Last Theorem if reusing this plot would be to ask for [[wikipedia:Ramsey number#Ramsey numbers|Ramsey numbers]]. Extra bonus for them being associated with an [[Alien Invasion]] anecdote.
* [[Arthur C. Clarke]]'s ''The Last Theorem'' is about a Sri Lanka mathematician trying to find a simpler proof to the problem.▼
* One of the fictional dialogues in ''[[Gödel, Escher, Bach]]'' talks about a kind of ant colonies that never wrote down the proof to a variant of Fermat's Last Theorem (the variant is n^x + n^y = n^z, with the same conditions: n=2 has infinitely many solutions and n>2 has none<ref>It is in fact much easier to prove; try to prove it by yourself if you want to</ref>) because it is so small that it would be invisible if written in the margin.▼
* In [[The Millennium Trilogy]], Lisbeth spends most of the second book puzzling over the Theorem. At the end of the book, she [[Eureka Moment|understands what he meant]], but after the ending of the book, forgets it.▼
== Live-Action TV ==
* ''[[Star Trek]]'':
** In ''[[Star Trek: The
** In ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine|Star Trek Deep Space Nine]]'', Jadzia says that one of Dax's earlier hosts had the most original approach to Fermat's last theorem since Wiles. This may be an attempted [[Hand Wave]] for the TNG example, by showing that people are still working on the problem in the ''[[Star Trek]]'' universe even though it's been solved.
* In the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' episode ''[[Doctor Who/Recap/S31/E01 The Eleventh Hour|The Eleventh Hour]]'', the Doctor uses Fermat's original proof of Fermat's last theorem<ref>(along with an explanation of why electrons have mass and a description of an FTL drive)</ref> to get a team of scientists to take him seriously after hacking into their videoconference.
▲* [[Arthur C. Clarke]]'s ''The Last Theorem'' is about a Sri Lanka mathematician trying to find a simpler proof to the problem.
== Music ==
* The Irish band BATS have a song about Andrew Wiles and the theorem.
* ''[[Irregular Webcomic]]'' posits that Fermat was a [http://www.irregularwebcomic.net/1807.html time traveler].▼
== Theatre ==
▲* "Prove Fermat's last theorem" occurs as a problem in an [[Only Smart People May Pass]] setup in ''[[Gash Bell]]''. It's posed to the dumbest member of the party, and the rest force the guardian to give a simpler question by making him admit that ''he'' doesn't know the answer.
* Shows up in [[Tom Stoppard]]'s ''Arcadia''; as a joke Septimus assigns the [[Teen Genius]] Thomasina to solve it. She eventually comes to the conclusion that Fermat was [[Trolling]]. Interestingly, ''Arcadia'' was published mere months before Wiles' proof.
▲* In [[The Millennium Trilogy]], Lisbeth spends most of the second book puzzling over the Theorem. At the end of the book, she [[Eureka Moment|understands what he meant]], but after the ending of the book, forgets it.
== Web Comics ==
▲* Appears briefly on a blackboard in the 2000 remake of ''[[Bedazzled]]''. Satan (Elizabeth Hurley as a [[Hot Teacher]]) erases it from the list of homework assignments while commenting, "You'll never use this stuff."
▲* ''[[Irregular Webcomic]]'' posits that Fermat was a [http://www.irregularwebcomic.net/1807.html time traveler].
▲* In ''[[GetBackers]]'', Lucky, the genius dog, is given a problem like this to solve. The dog answers that it's unsolveable (x = "nothing"), which is what ''really'' clues [[Insufferable Genius|Ban]] in to the fact that the whole "genius dog" thing isn't a parlor trick... the dog's actually been {{spoiler|infected with the same virus that caused apes to mutate into humans, the so-called "Missing Link Virus."}} It... doesn't make ''sense'' in context, but there is an explanation.
▲* One of the fictional dialogues in ''[[Gödel, Escher, Bach]]'' talks about a kind of ant colonies that never wrote down the proof to a variant of Fermat's Last Theorem (the variant is n^x + n^y = n^z, with the same conditions: n=2 has infinitely many solutions and n>2 has none<ref>It is in fact much easier to prove; try to prove it by yourself if you want to</ref>) because it is so small that it would be invisible if written in the margin.
{{reflist}}
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[[Category:Fermats Last Theorem]]
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