Fermat's Last Theorem: Difference between revisions

'''{{PAGENAME}}''' was a mathematical statement whose proof [[Eleventh Doctor|the Doctor]] once used to convince a body of geniuses that they should take his advice about how to save the world from annihilation by the [[Atraxi]]. He uploaded the proof — which the Doctor called "the real one, never been seen before" — to a secure video conference from a laptop computer in [[Leadworth]].   Simultaneously, he noted that the originator of the theorem, Fermat, got killed in a duel before he could write down the proof. He claimed responsibility for the death, saying that it had only happened because he had slept in that morning. ([[DW]]: ''[[The Eleventh Hour]]'')

::''The reference here is to [[wikipedia:Fermat's Last Theorem|Fermat's Last Theorem]], but many details in the Doctor's speech do not conform to known events in the real world. The theorem was actually proved in the [[1990s]], but the Doctor's clarification that he was sending "the '''real''' one" likely indicates he doesn't feel the [[20th century]] solution is a particularly good one. Also, Fermat himself was not killed in a duel.  Instead, this seems to be writer [[Steven Moffat]] taking a little bit of a liberty with the 500-year-old history of the theorem.  In the real world, it wasn't Fermat who died in a duel, but [[wikipedia:Evariste Galois|Évariste Galois]], a [[19th century]] mathematician whose work on the theorem was fundamental to the [[1990s]] proof.