Fermat’s Last Theorem

fermat’s last theorem was the last equation in a book written by pierre de fermat’s that was the last to be solved. the equation was x^n+y^n=z^n. pierre said that he had proof that this equation could never be proven if n was larger than 2.

he wrote this in 1637 and it hasn’t been proven until 1993(1995 for perfected) by andrew wiles. andrew proved this after working on the equation for 7 years. solving it was a dream of his since he was a young boy. andrew received worldwide recognition for his proof. andrew solved this by also proving the taniyama-shimura conjecture, which states that every elliptic curve is also modular. andrew solved this by turning the elliptic curves into galois representations and turning the equation into a cl-ss number formula. many had tried before andrew but none succeeded for 300 years.

many doubt if fermat had any real proof but it was still a mathematical marvel of a challenge and we can hope another such equation will pop up.
“it is impossible for a cube to be the sum of two cubes, a fourth power to be the sum of two fourth powers, or in general for any number that is a power greater than the second to be the sum of two like powers. i have discovered a truly marvelous demonstration of this proposition that this margin is too narrow to contain.” – pierre de fermat

every mathematician hates and loves andrew wiles for his proof of fermat’s last theorem