>> > Math Riots Prove Fun Incalculable
>> > /by/ Eric Zorn
>> >
>> > /begin italics/
>> > News Item (June 23) -- Mathematicians worldwide were excited and
>> > pleased today by the announcement that Princeton University professor
>> > Andrew Wiles had finally proved Fermat's Last Theorem, a 365-year-old
>> > problem said to be the most famous in the field.
>> > /end italics/
>> >
>> > Yes, admittedly, there was rioting and vandalism last week during the
>> > celebration. A few bookstores had windows smashed and shelves stripped,
>> > and vacant lots glowed with burning piles of old dissertations. But
>> > overall we can feel relief that it was nothing -- nothing -- compared
>> > to the outbreak of exuberant thuggery that occurred in 1984 after
>> > Louis DeBranges finally proved the Bieberbach Conjecture.
>> >
>> > "Math hooligans are the worst," said a Chicago Police Department
>> > spokesman. "But the city learned from the Bieberbach riots. We were
>> > ready for them this time."
>> >
>> > When word hit Wednesday that Fermat's Last Theorem had fallen, a
>> > massive show of force from law enforcement at universities all around
>> > the country headed off a repeat of the festive looting sprees that have
>> > become the traditional accompaniment to triumphant breakthroughs in
>> > higher mathematics.
>> >
>> > Mounted police throughout Hyde Park kept crowds of delirious wizards at
>> > the University of Chicago from tipping over cars on the midway as they
>> > first did in 1976 when Wolfgang Haken and Kenneth Appel cracked the
>> > long-vexing Four-Color Problem. Incidents of textbook-throwing and
>> > citizens being pulled from their cars and humiliated with difficult
>> > story problems last week were described by the university's math
>> > department chairman Bob Zimmer as "isolated."
>> >
>> > Zimmer said, "Most of the celebrations were orderly and peaceful. But
>> > there will always be a few -- usually graduate students -- who use any
>> > excuse to cause trouble and steal. These are not true fans of Andrew
>> > Wiles."
>> >
>> > Wiles himself pleaded for calm even as he offered up the proof that
>> > there is no solution to the equation  x^n + y^n = z^n  when  n  is a
>> > whole number greater than two, as Pierre de Fermat first proposed in
>> > the 17th Century. "Party hard but party safe," he said, echoing the
>> > phrase he had repeated often in interviews with scholarly journals as
>> > he came closer and closer to completing his proof.
>> >
>> > Some authorities tried to blame the disorder on the provocative
>> > taunting of Japanese mathematician Yoichi Miyaoka. Miyaoka thought he
>> > had proved Fermat's Last Theorem in 1988, but his claims did not bear
>> > up under the scrutiny of professional referees, leading some to
>> > suspect that the fix was in. And ever since, as Wiles chipped away
>> > steadily at the Fermat problem, Miyaoka scoffed that there would be no
>> > reason to board up windows near universities any time soon; that God
>> > wanted Miyaoka to prove it.
>> >
>> > In a peculiar sidelight, Miyaoka recently took the trouble to secure a
>> > U.S. trademark on the equation "x^n + y^n = z^n " as well as the
>> > now-ubiquitous expression "Take that, Fermat!" Ironically, in defeat,
>> > he stands to make a good deal of money on cap and T-shirt sales.
>> >
>> > This was no walk-in-the-park proof for Wiles. He was dogged, in the
>> > early going, by sniping publicity that claimed he was seen puttering
>> > late one night doing set theory in a New Jersey library when he either
>> > should have been sleeping, critics said, or focusing on arithmetic
>> > algebraic geometry for the proving work ahead.
>> >
>> > "Set theory is my hobby, it helps me relax," was his angry explanation.
>> > The next night, he channeled his fury and came up with five critical
>> > steps in his proof. Not a record, but close.
>> >
>> > There was talk that he thought he could do it all by himself,
>> > especially when he candidly referred to University of California
>> > mathematician Kenneth Ribet as part of his "supporting cast," when most
>> > people in the field knew that without Ribet's 1986 proof definitively
>> > linking the Taniyama Conjecture to Fermat's Last Theorem, Wiles would
>> > be just another frustrated guy in a tweed jacket teaching calculus to
>> > freshmen.
>> >
>> > His travails made the ultimate victory that much more explosive for
>> > math buffs. When the news arrived, many were already wired from
>> > caffeine consumed at daily colloquial teas, and the took to the streets
>> > en masse shouting, "Obvious! Yessss! It was obvious!"
>> >
>> > The law cannot hope to stop such enthusiasm, only to control it. Still,
>>one has
>> > to wonder what the connection is between wanton pillaging and a
>>mathematical
>> > proof, no matter how long-awaited and subtle.
>> >
>> > The Victory Over Fermat rally, held on a cloudless day in front of a
>> > crowd of 30,000 (police estimate: 150,000) was pleasantly peaceful.
>> > Signs unfurled in the audience proclaimed Wiles the greatest
>> > mathematician of all time, though partisans of Euclid, Descartes,
>> > Newton, and C.F. Gauss and others argued the point vehemently.
>> >
>> > A warmup act, The Supertheorists, delighted the crowd with a ragged
>> > song, "It Was Never Less Than Probable, My Friend," which included such
>> > gloating, barbed verses as --- "I had a proof all ready / But then I
>> > did a choke-a / Made liberal assumptions / Hi! I'm Yoichi Miyaoka."
>> >
>> > In the speeches from the stage, there was talk of a dynasty,
>> > specifically that next year Wiles will crack the great unproven Riemann
>> > Hypothesis ("Rie-peat! Rie-peat!" the crowd cried), and that after the
>> > Prime-Pair Problem, the Goldbach Conjecture ("Minimum Goldbach," said
>> > one T-shirt) and so on.
>> >
>> > They couldn't just let him enjoy his proof. Not even for one day. Math
>> > people. Go figure 'em.
>> >
>> > /end of article/