Title: Fermat's Last Theorem
Subtitle: the story of a riddle that confounded the world's greatest minds for 358 years
First published: 1997
Description: xn + yn = zn, where n represents 3, 4, 5, ...no solution "I have discovered a truly marvelous demonstration of this proposition which this margin is too narrow to contain." With these words, the seventeenth-century French mathematician Pierre de Fermat threw down the gauntlet to future generations.  What came to be known as Fermat's Last Theorem looked simple; proving it, however, became the Holy Grail of mathematics, baffling its finest minds for more than 350 years.  

In Fermat's Enigma--based on the author's award-winning documentary film, which aired on PBS's "Nova"--Simon Singh tells the astonishingly entertaining story of the pursuit of that grail, and the lives that were devoted to, sacrificed for, and saved by it.  Here is a mesmerizing tale of heartbreak and mastery that will forever change your feelings about mathematics.
Subjects: Fermat's last theorem, mathematics, number theory, elliptic curves, proof, 31.01 history of mathematics, Wiskunde, Theorema van Fermat, History, Fermatsche Vermutung, Beweis, Geschichte, Fermat-Vermutung, New York Times reviewed, Teorema di Fermat, Grand théorème de Fermat, Teorema de Fermat, Studies, Wiles, Andrew, Feruma no mondai
Places: Princeton, Cambridge, Alexandria
People: Andrew Wiles, John Coates, Leonhard Euler, Sam Loyd, Ken Ribet, Pythagoras, Richard Taylor