Trine prof gives talks on Fermat’s Last Theorem

Anthony Vasaturo, Ph.D., assistant professor of mathematics at Trine University, is releasing a series of talks discussing the proof of Fermat’s Last Theorem, which eluded mathematicians for more than 350 years.

The presentations are available on YouTube.

First proposed by a theorem by French mathematician Pierre de Fermat in the 1630s, Fermat’s Last Theorem states that no three positive integers a, b and c are solutions to the equation aⁿ + bⁿ =cⁿ, where n is an integer greater than 2. Fermat stated the theorem in the margin of a copy of Arithmetica, an ancient Greek text on mathematics, and claimed he had a proof too large to fit in that space.

However, the proof eluded mathematicians until British mathematician Andrew Wiles successfully developed and published one in the mid-1990s. The proof was considered by some to be the greatest mathematics accomplishment in the 20^th century.

Last Updated: 06/01/2022