Fermat's Last Theorem is one of the most celebrated problems in mathematics. It is a problem in the field of Number Theory that's very simple to understand, yet extremely difficult to solve. In fact, it's so difficult that it remained unsolved for 358 years even though it got a lot of attention from some of … Continue reading Chasing Fermat’s Last Theorem
Tag: Numbers
Dissecting Diophantine Equations
The word Diophantine refers to Diophantus, the third century mathematician from Alexandria. Numbers are the fundamental building blocks of mathematics, so he started thinking about problems for which we need integer solutions. For example, how many horses do we need to achieve a particular task? Even if the exact answer is 15.5, we cannot really … Continue reading Dissecting Diophantine Equations
Understanding Catalan’s Conjecture
Numbers are deceptively simple. We use them everyday in a variety of contexts. It's beautiful how there are so many mysteries hidden inside these numbers. Catalan's Conjecture is a mathematical problem that's really easy to understand, but extremely difficult to prove. In fact, it took around 158 years to come up with a mathematical proof. … Continue reading Understanding Catalan’s Conjecture
1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + …. = -1/12
Wait a minute, what? That looks very very wrong. You must be wondering if the title is some horrendous typo, right? Well, let me assure you that it's absolutely not! The sum of all natural numbers is equal to -1/12. This blog post is not just about mathematical trickery either. The equation in the title … Continue reading 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + …. = -1/12
What Do You Know About Infinity?
What do you think of the term "infinity"? In layman's terms, infinity is something that has no end, something that is bigger than all the things we know. This is what most people think! Many people who have not seen advanced mathematics do not know about the fact that there are many different types of … Continue reading What Do You Know About Infinity?
Perpetual Enigma 