Sunday, August 22, 2010

Question 787

X is a theorem first proposed by ___ in the form of a note scribbled in the margin of his copy of the ancient Greek text Arithmetica by Diophantus. The scribbled note was discovered posthumously, and the original is now lost. However, a copy was preserved in a book published by ___'s son. In the note, _____ claimed to have discovered a proof that the Diophantine equation x^n+y^n=z^n has no integer solutions for n>2 and x,y,z=0.
Simple, it may seem. But this austere equation kept the sharpest of the brains puzzled for the last 360 years. Finally, in 1995, a British mathematician Andrew Wiles cracked the code after years of contemplation.
Id X and fill in the blank.

Fermat's Last Theorem