Quotes by Andrew Wiles - Page 1

I never use a computer.
Andrew Wiles / Mathematician
Computer
Mathematics
Use
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Fermat said he had a proof.
Andrew Wiles / Mathematician
Proof
Said
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I loved doing problems in school.
Andrew Wiles / Mathematician
Problem
Problems In School
School
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Always try the problem that matters most to you.
Andrew Wiles / Mathematician
Motivational
Important
Issues
Trying
Matters
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The only way I could relax was when I was with my children.
Andrew Wiles / Mathematician
Children
Relax
Way
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That particular odyssey is now over. My mind is now at rest.
Andrew Wiles / Mathematician
Mind
Odyssey
Particular
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But the best problem I ever found, I found in my local public library.
Andrew Wiles / Mathematician
Found
Library
Problem
Public Library
Public
Local
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There are proofs that date back to the Greeks that are still valid today.
Andrew Wiles / Mathematician
Greek
Proof
Today
Date
Greeks
Valid
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Just because we can't find a solution it doesn't mean that there isn't one.
Andrew Wiles / Mathematician
Idaho
Mean
Solutions
Just Because
Solution
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However impenetrable it seems, if you don't try it, then you can never do it.
Andrew Wiles / Mathematician
Ifs
Seems
Trying
However
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Pure mathematicians just love to try unsolved problems - they love a challenge.
Andrew Wiles / Mathematician
Love
Challenges
Pure
Trying
Just
Try
Challenge
Mathematicians
Problems
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The greatest problem for mathematicians now is probably the Riemann Hypothesis.
Andrew Wiles / Mathematician
Hypothesis
Mathematician
Problem
Mathematicians
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I realized that anything to do with Fermat's Last Theorem generates too much interest.
Andrew Wiles / Mathematician
Realized
Theorem
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I don't believe Fermat had a proof. I think he fooled himself into thinking he had a proof.
Andrew Wiles / Mathematician
Fooled
Proof
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I grew up in Cambridge in England, and my love of mathematics dates from those early childhood days.
Andrew Wiles / Mathematician
Love
Cambridge
Childhood
Early Childhood
England
Dates
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I had this rare privilege of being able to pursue in my adult life, what had been my childhood dream.
Andrew Wiles / Mathematician
Dream
Adults
Childhood
Privilege
Pursue
Adult
Adult Life
Rare
Childhood Dream
Rare Privilege
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The definition of a good mathematical problem is the mathematics it generates rather than the problem itself.
Andrew Wiles / Mathematician
Science
Definitions
Mathematical
Problem
Sensual
Itself
Definition
Rather
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I really believed that I was on the right track, but that did not mean that I would necessarily reach my goal
Andrew Wiles / Mathematician
Goal
Mean
Track
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I really believed that I was on the right track, but that did not mean that I would necessarily reach my goal.
Andrew Wiles / Mathematician
Right Track
Track
Believed
Necessarily
Reach
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It's fine to work on any problem, so long as it generates interesting mathematics along the way - even if you don't solve it at the end of the day.
Andrew Wiles / Mathematician
Work
Fine
Interesting
Long
Problem
Work Long Day
End Of The Day
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Then when I reached college I realized that many people had thought about the problem during the 18th and 19th centuries and so I studied those methods.
Andrew Wiles / Mathematician
Centuries
Reached
Realized
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Then when I reached college, I realized that many people had thought about the problem during the 18th and 19th centuries and so I studied those methods.
Andrew Wiles / Mathematician
College
People
Umpires
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I tried to fit it in with some previous broad conceptual understanding of some part of mathematics that would clarify the particular problem I was thinking about.
Andrew Wiles / Mathematician
Particular
Problem
Thinking
Understanding
Broad
Clarify
Conceptual
Particular Problem
Previous
Tried
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I know it's a rare privilege, but if one can really tackle something in adult life that means that much to you, then it's more rewarding than anything I can imagine.
Andrew Wiles / Mathematician
Adults
Mean
Privilege
Adult
Adult Life
Rare
Life Know More
Rare Privilege
Rewarding
Tackle
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Perhaps the methods I needed to complete the proof would not be invented for a hundred years. So even if I was on the right track, I could be living in the wrong century.
Andrew Wiles / Mathematician
Needed
Proof
Right Track
Track
Complete
Hundred Years
Perhaps
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I was so obsessed by this problem that I was thinking about it all the time - when I woke up in the morning, when I went to sleep at night - and that went on for eight years.
Andrew Wiles / Mathematician
Morning
Eight
Night
Sleep
Time Morning Thinking
Woke
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Well, some mathematics problems look simple, and you try them for a year or so, and then you try them for a hundred years, and it turns out that they're extremely hard to solve.
Andrew Wiles / Mathematician
Hundred
Simple
Solve
Turns
Extremely
Hundred Years
Problems
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Mathematicians aren't satisfied because they know there are no solutions up to four million or four billion, they really want to know that there are no solutions up to infinity.
Andrew Wiles / Mathematician
Four
Infinity
Satisfied
Solutions
Want
Billion
Mathematicians
Million
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Mathematics... is a bit like discovering oil. ... But mathematics has one great advantage over oil, in that no one has yet ... found a way that you can keep using the same oil forever.
Andrew Wiles / Mathematician
Science
Forever
Oil
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It could be that the methods needed to take the next step may simply be beyond present day mathematics. Perhaps the methods I needed to complete the proof would not be invented for a hundred years.
Andrew Wiles / Mathematician
Hundred
Mathematics
Needed
Next
Proof
Beyond
Complete
Simply
Hundred Years
Invented
Present
Next Step
Perhaps
Step
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There's also a sense of freedom. I was so obsessed by this problem that I was thinking about if all the time - when I woke up in the morning, when I went to sleep at night, and that went on for eight years.
Andrew Wiles / Mathematician
Eight
Woke
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I'm sure that some of them will be very hard and I'll have a sense of achievement again, but nothing will mean the same to me - there's no other problem in mathematics that could hold me the way that this one did.
Andrew Wiles / Mathematician
Achievement
Hold
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I hope that seeing the excitement of solving this problem will make young mathematicians realize that there are lots and lots of other problems in mathematics which are going to be just as challenging in the future.
Andrew Wiles / Mathematician
Future
Excitement
Problem
Seeing
Young
Lots
Lots And Lots
Mathematicians
Realize
Solving
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We've lost something that's been with us for so long, and something that drew a lot of us into mathematics. But perhaps that's always the way with math problems, and we just have to find new ones to capture our attention.
Andrew Wiles / Mathematician
Attention
Capture
Long
Math
Drew
New Ones
Perhaps
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Some mathematics problems look simple, and you try them for a year or so, and then you try them for a hundred years, and it turns out that they're extremely hard to solve. There's no reason why these problems shouldn't be easy, and yet they turn out to be extremely intricate.
Andrew Wiles / Mathematician
Hundred
Intricate
Mathematics
No Reason
Solve
Turns
Extremely
Hundred Years
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I carried this problem around in my head basically the whole time. I would wake up with it first thing in the morning, I would be thinking about it all day, and I would be thinking about it when I went to sleep. Without distraction I would have the same thing going round and round in my mind.
Andrew Wiles / Mathematician
Morning
Science
Sleep
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I loved doing problems in school. I'd take them home and make up new ones of my own. But the best problem I ever found, I found in my local public library. I was just browsing through the section of math books and I found this one book, which was all about one particular problem - Fermat's Last Theorem.
Andrew Wiles / Mathematician
Math
Particular
Public Library
Local
Make Up
New Ones
One Book
Particular Problem
Section
Theorem
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Some mathematics problems look simple, and you try them for a year or so, and then you try them for a hundred years, and it turns out that they're extremely hard to solve. There's no reason why these problems shouldn't be easy, and yet they turn out to be extremely intricate. Fermat's Last Theorem is the most beautiful example of this.
Andrew Wiles / Mathematician
Beautiful
Simple
Years
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Perhaps I could best describe my experience of doing mathematics in terms of entering a dark mansion. You go into the first room and it's dark, completely dark. You stumble around, bumping into the furniture. Gradually, you learn where each piece of furniture is. And finally, after six months or so, you find the light switch and turn it on. Suddenly, it's all illuminated and you can see exactly where you were. Then you enter the next dark room.
Andrew Wiles / Mathematician
Dark
Light
Pieces
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