On June 21, 1993, at the Issac Newton Institute for Mathematical Science, Andrew Wiles announced that he had proven Fermat's Last Theorem. That wasn't quite right- there was a hole in the proof that was later patched up with the help of Richard Taylor (his former grad student). A correct proof was submitted in 1994 and appeared in 1995. Wiles is the sole author.
June 21, 2024 was the 31st anniversary of the announcement. (So today is the 31-years and 1-month anniversary). I COULD have had ChatGPT write some poems about it. But there is no need. There are already some very nice poems about it written by humans. Will humans eventually lose the ability to write such things? Would that be a bad thing? Either ponder those questions or just enjoy the poems. (My spellcheck still thinks ChatGPT is not a word. It needs to get with the times.)
1) A link to a set of poems about FLT: here.
2) Here is a poem that is not in that set but is excellent.
A challenge for many long ages
Had baffled the savants and sages
Yet at last came the light
Seems that Fermat was right
To the margins add 200 pages
(I don't know who wrote this or even where I read it. If you know anything about where it was published or who wrote it, please let me know. ADDED LATER:Eric Angelini left a comment telling me that this limerick was written by Paul Robert Chernoff. The commets also has a link to lots of limericks that Paul Robert Chernoff wrote. Thanks!)
3) Here is a poem by Jonathan Harvey that mentions the gap in the original proof.
A mathematician named Wiles
Had papers stacked in large piles
Since he saw a clue
He could show Fermat true
Mixing many mathematical styles
He labored in search of the light
To find the crucial insight
Young Andrew, it seems
Had childhood dreams
To prove Mr. Fermat was right
He studied for seven long years
Expending much blood, sweat, and tears
After showing the proof
A skeptic said “Poof!
There’s a hole here”, raising deep fears.
This shattered Mr. Wiles’s belief
His ship was wrecked on a reef
Then a quick switcheroo
Came out of the blue
Providing his mind much relief.
Mr. Wiles had been under the gun
But the obstacle blocking Proof One
Fixed a much older way
From an earlier day
And now Wiles has his place in the sun
4) Here is a poem by John Fitzgerald that mentions other unsolved problems including P vs NP
Fermat’s theorem has been solved,
What will now make math evolve?
There are many problems still,
None of which can cause that thrill.
Years and years of history,
Gave romance to Fermat-spree,
Amateurs and top men too,
Tried to push this theorem through.
Some have thought they reached the goal,
But were shipwrecked on the shoal,
So the quest grew stronger still;
Who would pay for Fermat’s bill?
So what is now the pearl to probe,
The snark to hunt, the pot of gold,
The fish to catch, the rainbows end,
The distant call towards which to tend?
One such goal’s the number brick,
where integers to all lengths stick:
To sides, diagonals, everyone,
Does it exist or are there none?
Then there are those famous pearls,
That have stymied kins and earls:
Goldbach, Twin Primes, Riemann Zeta;
No solutions, plenty data.
Find a perfect number odd;
Through 3n + 1 go plod;
Will the P = N P ?
Send a code unbreakably.
Are independence proofs amiss;
Continuum Hypothesis;
Find a proof which has some texture
of the Poincaré conjecture.
And so, you see, onward we sail,
there still are mountains we must scale;
But now there’s something gone from math,
At Fermat’s end we weep and laugh.
Fermat/Wiles limerick was written by Paul Robert Chernoff; see
ReplyDeletehttps://math.berkeley.edu/~chernoff/limericks.html
(Bill) Thanks! I have added it to the post.
Delete