Quotes by Andrew Wiles - Page 1

I never use a computer.
Andrew Wiles / Mathematician
Computer
Mathematics
Use
Copy Quote
Fermat said he had a proof.
Andrew Wiles / Mathematician
Proof
Said
Copy Quote
I loved doing problems in school.
Andrew Wiles / Mathematician
Problem
Problems In School
School
Copy Quote
Always try the problem that matters most to you.
Andrew Wiles / Mathematician
Motivational
Important
Issues
Trying
Matters
Copy Quote
The only way I could relax was when I was with my children.
Andrew Wiles / Mathematician
Children
Relax
Way
Copy Quote
That particular odyssey is now over. My mind is now at rest.
Andrew Wiles / Mathematician
Mind
Odyssey
Particular
Copy Quote
But the best problem I ever found, I found in my local public library.
Andrew Wiles / Mathematician
Found
Library
Problem
Public Library
Public
Local
Copy Quote
There are proofs that date back to the Greeks that are still valid today.
Andrew Wiles / Mathematician
Greek
Proof
Today
Date
Greeks
Valid
Copy Quote
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
Copy Quote
However impenetrable it seems, if you don't try it, then you can never do it.
Andrew Wiles / Mathematician
Ifs
Seems
Trying
However
Copy Quote
Pure mathematicians just love to try unsolved problems - they love a challenge.
Andrew Wiles / Mathematician
Love
Challenges
Pure
Trying
Just
Try
Challenge
Mathematicians
Problems
Copy Quote
The greatest problem for mathematicians now is probably the Riemann Hypothesis.
Andrew Wiles / Mathematician
Hypothesis
Mathematician
Problem
Mathematicians
Copy Quote
I realized that anything to do with Fermat's Last Theorem generates too much interest.
Andrew Wiles / Mathematician
Realized
Theorem
Copy Quote
I don't believe Fermat had a proof. I think he fooled himself into thinking he had a proof.
Andrew Wiles / Mathematician
Fooled
Proof
Copy Quote
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
Copy Quote
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
Copy Quote
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
Copy Quote
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
Copy Quote
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
Copy Quote
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
Copy Quote
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
Copy Quote
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
Copy Quote
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
Copy Quote
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
Copy Quote
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
Copy Quote
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
Copy Quote
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
Copy Quote
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
Copy Quote
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
Copy Quote
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
Copy Quote
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
Copy Quote
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
Copy Quote
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
Copy Quote
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
Copy Quote
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
Copy Quote
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
Copy Quote
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
Copy Quote
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
Copy Quote
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
Copy Quote

Related Mathematician Authors

Wolfgang Smith
Mathematician
William Thurston
Mathematician
Wednesday, Oct 30, 1946
Tuesday, Aug 21, 2012
William Mitchinson Hicks
Mathematician
Monday, Sep 23, 1850
Friday, Aug 17, 1934
William Kingdon Clifford
Mathematician
Sunday, May 04, 1845
Monday, Mar 03, 1879
William Fogg Osgood
Mathematician
Thursday, Mar 10, 1864
Thursday, Jul 22, 1943
William A. Dembski
Mathematician
Monday, Jul 18, 1960
W. W. Sawyer
Mathematician

Friday, Feb 15, 2008
W. W. Rouse Ball
Mathematician
Wednesday, Aug 14, 1850
Saturday, Apr 04, 1925
Vaclav Hlavaty
Mathematician
Saturday, Jan 27, 1894
Saturday, Jan 11, 1969
Urbain Le Verrier
Mathematician
Monday, Mar 11, 1811
Sunday, Sep 23, 1877
Tobias Dantzig
Mathematician
Tuesday, Feb 19, 1884
Thursday, Aug 09, 1956
Timothy Gowers
Mathematician
Wednesday, Nov 20, 1963
Thomas Little Heath
Mathematician

Saturday, Mar 16, 1940
Thomas Bradwardine
Mathematician

Tuesday, Aug 26, 1349
Thomas Banchoff
Mathematician
Thursday, Apr 07, 1938

View All Mathematician Quotes

Top Authors

Billy Graham
Professional Wrestler
Monday, Jun 07, 1943
Isaac Newton
Physicist
Sunday, Jan 04, 1643
Monday, Mar 31, 1727
Mother Teresa
Saint
Friday, Aug 26, 1910
Friday, Sep 05, 1997
Aristotle
Philosopher
Thursday, Jan 01, 1970
Thursday, Jan 01, 1970
Kanye West
Songwriter
Wednesday, Jun 08, 1977
Thursday, Jun 04, 2015
Leonardo Da Vinci
Painter
Thursday, Apr 15, 1452
Friday, May 02, 1519
Nelson Mandela
Former President Of South Africa
Thursday, Jul 18, 1918
Thursday, Dec 05, 2013
Dwight D. Eisenhower
34Th U.s. President
Tuesday, Oct 14, 1890
Friday, Mar 28, 1969
Elon Musk
Investor
Monday, Jun 28, 1971
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Essayist
Wednesday, May 25, 1803
Thursday, Apr 27, 1882
Oscar Wilde
Writer
Monday, Oct 16, 1854
Friday, Nov 30, 1900
Paulo Coelho
Lyricist
Sunday, Aug 24, 1947
Carl Sagan
Astronomer
Friday, Nov 09, 1934
Friday, Dec 20, 1996
Will Rogers
Actor
Tuesday, Nov 04, 1879
Thursday, Aug 15, 1935
Napoleon Bonaparte
Military Commander
Tuesday, Aug 15, 1769
Saturday, May 05, 1821

View All Authors

Andrew Wiles Quotes - Page 1

Picture Quotes Maker

Related Mathematician Authors

Popular Topic Tags

Top Authors

Share This Page

Stay Connected

Picture Quotes Maker

Related Mathematician Authors

Popular Topic Tags

Top Authors

Share This Page