Simon Singh's account of how the last theorem of Fermat was solved is truly a mathematical adventure. Starting with the famous yet often unspoken Pythagoras' proof, traversing the intricacies of Diophantine riddles and the Game Theory, the rigorousness of the dot conjecture, not to mention that of some apparently milder axioms, the cunningly composed paradoxes utilizing purest form of logic, the rationality of the irrationals, the powerful primes with their mysterious intervals, the variety of amazing abstractions that decorates the subject were introduced suitably as the theorem was discussed whose apparent simple statement kept the mathematical community scratching for the proof for centuries. Complementing the beauty of mathematics, was the saga of the giants in the field, most prominent being the tragic genius Evariste Galois whose short life and notes documented during his even shorter mathematical career that lasted till the night before his death was one of the valuable threads for the proof. Then was the cornerstone conjecture of the mathematical pair of Taniyama and Shimura whose proof held the key for proving the elusive theorem, as stated by mathematician, Gerhard Frey, corroborated by Ken Ribet with a hint from Barry Mazur. The techniques pioneered by Kolyvagin, Flach, Iwasawa were utilized as Andrew Wiles improvised on the techniques to present the elegant proof for the most sought after theorem that baffled generations of mathematicians. The role of his former supervisor, John Coates, who introduced elliptical curves to him, that of Nick Katz, the only other mathematician who was taken into confidence by Wiles as he edged towards the proof during the secretive years and who actually failed to catch a gap in the logic during the time only to indicate the same, albeit with a bit of embarrassment, while refereeing the historic paper leading to yet another article by Wiles with his former student, Richard Taylor, another referee to the original and then a collaborator to its historic supplementary paper, the supporting ensemble to this classic drama also finds their deserving credits. Mention is made of the eccentric Paul Friedrich Wolfskehl and his chance encounter with the Fermat puzzle that not only averted his suicide but captivated him to such an extent as to announce a lumpsum reward for the person to solve it thus adding a material appeal with a solid timeline to the prestige that beckoned the chasers.
The book is draped with episodes of mathematical events but the underlying mathematical principles behind them are elaborated for the layman to admire the elegance of the various abstract forms. A theorem that sometimes threatened to be a wild goose chase, had to wait for centuries for a definitive proof. A 358 long years of perseverance by the mathematical community was prized with a voluminous proof that not only clarified the theorem but offered the probing of logical genes that constitute the subject. Andrew Wiles created history while solving the taunting theorem of Fermat but the chapters that he transcribed had described mathematics for its further refinement as can be assimilated by the limit of intelligence. The passionate dream of a child saw its culmination in the Annals of Mathematics as the masters of logic witnessed the composition of the master theorist. Simon Singh has beautifully pieced together the significant events in mathematical evolution, presenting it to the layman with a fervour which is both infectious and compelling.
