The Last Problem (Spectrum)

Bell, E. T./ Dudley, Underwood (INT)

Mathematical Association of America（1998/08発売）

• 製本 Paperback:紙装版/ペーパーバック版／ページ数 332 p.
• 言語 ENG
• 商品コード 9780883854518
• DDC分類 512.7

Full Description

What Eric Temple Bell calls the last problem is the problem of proving 'Fermat's Last Theorem', which Fermat wrote in the margin of a book almost 350 years ago. The original text of The Last Problem traced the problem from 2000 BC to 17th century France. Along the way we learn quite a bit about history, and just as much about mathematics. Underwood Dudley's notes bring us up-to-date on recent attempts to solve the problem - for the latest printing, he has added a three page addendum about its recent proof by Andrew Wiles. This book fits no categories. It is not a book of mathematics: it is a biography of a famous problem. Pages go by without an equation appearing. It is both a history of number theory and its place in our civilisation, and a history of our civilisation's relationship with mathematics. This rich and varied, wide-ranging book, written with force and vigor by someone with a distinctive style and point of view will provide hours of enjoyable reading for anyone interested in mathematics.

Contents

1. Prospectus: unfinished business; 2. The far beginnings: Babylon and Egypt; 3. Philosophical interlude; 4. Alexander's contribution; 5. Cleopatra's gift; 6. From Euclid to Hypatia; 7. Dating - collapse - recovery; 8. The last Euclidean: Bachet (1581-1638); 9. Mathematician and jurist - Fermat; 10. The catalyst: Mersenne (1588-1648); 11. Friends and others; 12. From the correspondence of Fermat; 13. An age to remember; 14. The jurist; 15. Aftermath.