Fermat's Enigma
Awe-inspiring
Intense
Profound

Fermat's Enigma The Quest to Solve the World's Greatest Mathematical Problem

Simon Singh1997

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Reviews

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lala@polijus
5 stars
Jun 3, 2024

I genuinely thought I was buying a fiction book when I bought it. Turns out I was dead wrong. This is one of the best non-fiction book I read this year. It started with a simple theorem: alike Pythagorean Theorem, but immensely difficult to proof. This book tells the story of how Andrew Wiles, a mathematician from Princeton who proved Fermat's Last Theorem. Structurally, the book explains the development of mathematics from the Ancient Greece to today. It started with Pythagorean theorem, and then to Diophantus, whose book, Arithmetica becomes a guide for the amateur mathematician, Fermat. This book also delves into the live of Fermat, and different mathematicians whose whole lives tried to prove Fermat's Theorem. In addition to explaining the development of mathematics historically, Singh is also able to create a mathematical narrative that seems "understandable" for layperson like me. This is a very good read and I'd recommend it to everyone!

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a@literaury
5 stars
May 21, 2024

Genius

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Gavin@gl
3 stars
Mar 9, 2023

Good. Lucid in many places ("any logic which relies on a conjecture is conjecture"). Does well in using plain language to communicate some of the exciting complexity and dismaying complication of higher maths (but not as well as Kanigel on Ramanujan).

Photo of Bassel Katamish
Bassel Katamish@basselkatamish
5 stars
May 19, 2022

Brilliant journey through the history of Mathematics culminating with one of the most remarkable intellectual achievements of the 20th century. Anyone who thinks math isn’t exciting should give this a read.

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Sophie Machray@sophiereads2006
3 stars
Dec 17, 2023
+1
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Sagar Rathna Sabapathy@sagar_s
5 stars
Jun 30, 2023
+4
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Kiran Kumar M R@gladiatort1000
5 stars
Mar 8, 2024
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Pedro Figueiredo@pfig
5 stars
Mar 3, 2024
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Suyash Goylit@suyash_goylit
4 stars
Feb 5, 2024
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Ned Summers @nedsu
5 stars
Jan 31, 2024
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Ben@bingobongobengo
4 stars
Dec 18, 2023
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Stefan Ladstätter-Thaa@stefan786
5 stars
Oct 23, 2023
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Mher Alaverdyan@mhermher
4 stars
Jul 3, 2023
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Luca Masters@lkbm
5 stars
Jul 3, 2023
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Jens Madsen@ingemann
5 stars
Mar 23, 2023
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Jiahao Chen@jiahao
2 stars
Jan 26, 2023
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Stefano Picciolo@stepic
4 stars
Jan 25, 2023
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Sarthak Choudhary@sarthak889
4 stars
Sep 6, 2022
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Declan Clarke@declan
5 stars
Sep 4, 2022
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Robert Spektor@goodfella
5 stars
Aug 28, 2022
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Pratul@pratul
5 stars
Aug 19, 2022
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OLIVIER VALETTE@oliviervalette
5 stars
Aug 12, 2022
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Alison@inkymathematician
5 stars
Jul 8, 2022
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Mutter@mutter
3 stars
Mar 16, 2022

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