Kepler and Wiles: Models of Perseverance

Abstract

If you have seen the videotape The Proof or read the companion book by Simon Singh (1997) called Fermat's Enigma, you know that the story of Andrew Wiles's journey toward the proof of Fermat's last theorem is a remarkable tale of hope, disappointment, persistence, and ultimate triumph. Discovered by Pierre Fermat around 1637, the theorem is simple to state: “The conjecture that xn + yn = zn, where n > 2, has no solution with x, y, and z positive integers” (James and James 1992, p. 163). Yet the proof of this well-known theorem eluded generations of mathematicians. Wiles spent nearly a decade attempting to prove the theorem before he finally succeeded in 1994. The videotape and the book each offer an all-too-rare glimpse into the private struggles that preceded the more formal presentation of a finished product.