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Unsolvable math Problems
Name: Neilan
Status: other
Age: 40s
Location: N/A
Country: N/A
Date: N/A
Question:
Who is the individual who solved the most puzzling,
"unsolvable"
mathematical question?
I know this sounds vague, but some co-workers insist there was some
question that had stumped mathemeticians throughout the ages and
was recently solved. Does this ring a bell?
Replies:
Yeah. Andrew Wiles recently solved Fermat's last theorem, which states that
there are no whole numbers x, y, and z such that x^n + y^n = z^n, where n is
a whole number > 2.
Wiles made the final proof of the theorem, but other mathematicians over the
years made progress toward it, and Wiles built upon their work. A
description of the process appeared in a Scientific American in the last
year or so.
Richard E. Barrans Jr., Ph.D.
Assistant Director, PG Research Foundation
Darien, IL USA
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Update: June 2012
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