Unknown
Andrew J. Wiles
Fermat then considered the cubed version of this equation: x3 + y3 = z3. He raised the question, can you find solutions to the cubed equation?
Andrew J. Wiles
Fermat said he had a proof.
Andrew J. Wiles
Fermat couldn't possibly have had this proof. It's 150 pages long. It's a 20th-century proof. It couldn't have been done in the 19th century, let alone the 17th century. The techniques used in this proof just weren't around in Fermat's time.
Andrew J. Wiles
Fermat couldn't possibly have had this proof.
Andrew J. Wiles
Certainly one thing that I've learned is that it is important to pick a problem based on how much you care about it.
Andrew J. Wiles
But what has made this problem special for amateurs is that there's a tiny possibility that there does exist an elegant 17th-century proof.
Andrew J. Wiles
But the best problem I ever found, I found in my local public library.
Andrew J. Wiles
But the best problem I ever found I found in my local public library. I was just browsing through the section of math books and I found this one book, which was all about one particular problem - Fermat's Last Theorem.
Andrew J. Wiles
But perhaps that's always the way with math problems, and we just have to find new ones to capture our attention.
Andrew J. Wiles
Always try the problem that matters most to you.