Fermat's Last Theorem

In Our Time

BBC

History

4.6 • 9.8K Ratings

🗓️ 25 October 2012

⏱️ 43 minutes

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Summary

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Fermat's Last Theorem. In 1637 the French mathematician Pierre de Fermat scribbled a note in the margin of one of his books. He claimed to have proved a remarkable property of numbers, but gave no clue as to how he'd gone about it. "I have found a wonderful demonstration of this proposition," he wrote, "which this margin is too narrow to contain". Fermat's theorem became one of the most iconic problems in mathematics and for centuries mathematicians struggled in vain to work out what his proof had been. In the 19th century the French Academy of Sciences twice offered prize money and a gold medal to the person who could discover Fermat's proof; but it was not until 1995 that the puzzle was finally solved by the British mathematician Andrew Wiles.

With:

Marcus du Sautoy Professor of Mathematics & Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science at the University of Oxford

Vicky Neale Fellow and Director of Studies in Mathematics at Murray Edwards College at the University of Cambridge

Samir Siksek Professor at the Mathematics Institute at the University of Warwick.

Producer: Natalia Fernandez.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know.
0:04.7	My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds.
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0:43.2	UK slash radio for. I hope you enjoy the program.
0:47.0	Hello on the 23rd of June 1993 at the Isaac Newton Institute in Cambridge, Andrew Wiles announced that after seven years of work it solved the most celebrated problem in mathematics, Ferma's last theorem.
1:00.0	It turned out that Wiles had been slightly premature in making his announcement,
1:03.5	but within a year he was able to plug the hold in his proof and finally crack the puzzle
1:07.8	that had foxed the most brilliant mathematicians for over 350 years.
1:12.0	Pierre de Ferma was a 17th century French lawyer and amateur
1:15.9	mathematician whose all-consuming passion was numbers. In 1637 he realized
1:21.7	he'd made a profound discovery and scribbled in the margin of his book he was reading,
1:25.7	I have found a truly remarkable proof which this margin is too small to contain.
1:30.7	It's a tantalizing footnote that began one of the most famous detective stories in the history of mathematics.
1:35.0	But what was Ferma's theorem and why did it take the world's most accomplished mathematicians so many years to prove it?
1:42.0	With me to discuss Fermat's last theorem are Marcus
1:45.3	Jusotoy, Professor of Mathematics and Simeoni Professor for the Public
1:49.2	Understanding of Science at the University of Oxford. Samia Sixek, Professor at the Mathematics Institute at the University of Oxford, Samia Sixek, Professor at the Mathematics Institute at the University of Warwick,
	...

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