Fermat's Last Theorem: Difference between revisions

There's often this idea in fiction that Wiles' proof is somehow incomplete or not good enough (mostly for being utterly ''inelegant''--note, however, that [[wikipedia:Catalan conjecture|mathematics]] [[wikipedia:Four color theorem|is]] [[wikipedia:Jordan curve theorem|full]] [[wikipedia:Graph minor theorem|of]] [[wikipedia:Classification of finite simple groups|theorems]] whose best-known proof is massively more difficult and complex than the statement of the theorem itself; Fermat's last theorem is by no means unique in this regard). No ''currently'' unsolved problem in mathematics has a story behind it that's nearly as good as Fermat's mysterious margin note, so it can be useful to pretend that Fermat's last theorem remains unsolved.

 

 

----

** In ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation|Star Trek the Next Generation]]'', Picard spends some time trying to prove Fermat's last theorem. He says he finds it humbling that an 800-year-old problem, first posed by a French mathematician without a computer, still eludes solution. (The episode in question was broadcast [[Science Marches On|five years before Wiles' proof was released]].)

** 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.

* [[Arthur C. Clarke]]'s ''The Last Theorem'' is about a Sri Lanka mathematician trying to find a simpler proof to the problem.

* The Irish band BATS have a song about Andrew Wiles and the theorem.