Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 April 2024
Time for a break! Chapter 7 takes you for a guided walk through a tiny part of mathematical wonderland. We will encounter several mathematical personalities. An important one is Andrew Wiles, who solved Fermat’s Last Theorem. The story about how he finally obtained a proof is a must-read. We learn about the Fields Medal, the equivalent of a (non-existing) Nobel Prize in mathematics. We also tell you about the four-yearly International Congresses of Mathematicians and their influence on the field. There will be a first step on the ladder towards a theory of randomness; key names here are Jacob Bernoulli and Andrei Nikolajewitsch Kolmogorov. Randomness also comes to us through the famous discussion between Niels Bohr and Albert Einstein on “God throwing dice”. Of course, we include Leonhard Euler and his most beautiful formula of mathematics.
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