Solved cryptogram
Fermat claimed a proof he had no room to write down, and it took three centuries to find.
Mathematics Facts, sourced to MacTutor History of Mathematics.
Solve it yourself
This fact is a cryptogram here: 70 letters over 18 different ones, graded medium.
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What it means
The claim is that no whole numbers solve the equation for a power above two, and Fermat wrote in a book margin that he had a marvelous proof the margin was too narrow to hold. Andrew Wiles announced one in 1993, withdrew it when a gap appeared, and completed the repair a year later. The finished argument runs to over a hundred pages of machinery invented long after Fermat died, so whatever he had, it was not this.
The claim comes from MacTutor History of Mathematics.
- SourceMacTutor History of Mathematics
- CollectionMathematics Facts
- Difficultymedium
- Length70 letters, 18 of them different
Nearby in the collection
The facts either side of this one.
- MacTutor History of Mathematicsmedium, 73 letters
- Wolfram MathWorldhard, 70 letters
- MacTutor History of Mathematicshard, 68 letters
- MacTutor History of Mathematicshard, 69 letters
About as hard as this one
Scored closest to it by the model behind our guide to solving cryptograms.
- Wolfram MathWorldmedium, 81 letters
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