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Mathematics all-in-one cheat-sheet (2013) [pdf]

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Re: Mathematics all-in-one cheat-sheet (2013) [pdf]

#54
post #50
post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fermat wrote that in the margin of his book Arithmetica that a proof existed, but there wasn’t space in the margin to write it. It took Wiles 385 years to find a proof, and it won’t fit in a margin. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermat%27s_Last_Theorem That’s the allure of the theorem; that a simple unknown proof may exist.

Yes, I remember when news of his proof broke, being disappointed at how voluminous and obscure (to someone like me) it was. I'd been hoping for something I might be able to get my head around. (Hard as it was, I don't think Wiles spent 385 years coming up with it btw!)

Whether there is an existing and verified proof or not, there is still a great mystery to be solved by figuring out what Fermat actually meant by what he thought as an elegant solution, whether it is an actual solution or not.

Re: Mathematics all-in-one cheat-sheet (2013) [pdf]

#59
post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, I remember when news of his proof broke, being disappointed at how voluminous and obscure (to someone like me) it was. I'd been hoping for something I might be able to get my head around. (Hard as it was, I don't think Wiles spent 385 years coming up with it btw!)

Whether there is an existing and verified proof or not, there is still a great mystery to be solved by figuring out what Fermat actually meant by what he thought as an elegant solution, whether it is an actual solution or not.

Well, it could have been like Kempe's chains... they finally realized there is a problem, and then it took like 100 years before Appel and Haken made what is probably the first computer-aided proof. And who can say it's really a "proof" if it doesn't explain "why" it's true.
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