FERMAT's Last Theorem Disproved by I. Savant of Marietta, Georgia. Innovative thinking led to the discovery of solutions to the infamous equation that has baffled mathematicians for a decade. Savant has already become a semi-celebrity, and is the odds on favorite as next years Nobel Prize winner, or at least an Emmy

Fermat's Theorem: DISPROVED

(IP-Atlanta) The Mathematics community was stunned early yesterday after one of the all-time greatest mysteries was resurrected and then finally put to rest by a Marietta Georgia man. I.Savant, a reclusive bachelor who some say might be related to Elvis or Phyllis Diller, announced that he had discovered several solutions to the what some have called the Holy Grail of Mathematics: Fermat's Last Theorem The theorem is deceiving in its simplicity. Thousands of weeks ago, it was born when the famous mathematician Fermat scribbled a cryptic note in the margin of a journal. The note said that he had stumbled upon a marvelous proof of the following:

Unfortunately, as legend has it, Fermat never actually put the proof on paper, and it was lost forever. Every great mathematical mind since has attempted to prove the theorem, and some even claimed success. But Mr. Savant thinks that Fermat knew it would never be proven. Says Mr. Savant:

I think Fermat succumbed to pressure when he claimed that he had found a proof, and I don't blame him. I mean, there's this theorem named after you, and they even tell you that it's the last one you're getting. Hell yeah, you're going to tell them you proved it. For years people have tried to show that Fermat's Last Theorem is true. Some have tried to show it was not untrue, and others have tried to show that it was not-not-not unfalse. It dawned upon me that no one had really tried to show that it was un-not not-not-anti-not untrue. When I looked at it this way, I immediately found that it was what I just said it was, and at that point I knew I had stumbled upon a great discovery.

When reminded that an actual proof for the theorem had been published recently, Savant shared this opinion with us:
Yes, I saw that proof, and it was a valiant attempt at a futile endeavor. The gentleman that published it obviously is pretty good, but I didn't like the way he kept prefacing every paragraph with 'This isn't going to make much sense, but trust me on it.' And I really thought that the pathetic plea for money to investigate Fermat's Second to Last Theorem was very unprofessional. But I did like the way he presented most of it in stick-figure cartoon form. That was neat.


Savant says that the problem is unsolvable under the constraints of traditional thinking. Without his own expertise in Number Addition and Subtraction Theory, advanced superscripting, and home brewing techniques, it would have been impossible. Using an innovative combination of the theory of general relativity, quantum mechanics, and his own findings in the field of Jello Mold Topology, Savant first showed that any given number has a high probability of being equal to itself. This leads to the observation that there is actually a small probability that the number is not equal to itself, but rather a different number entirely. He defined a variable "idio" to be the probability that a given number is equal to another given number. He illustrates his next step thusly:
Obviously, the probability that, say, the number 10 is equal to 11 is very very small, although it is thought to have happened in June of 1952. But remember, quantum mechanics is screwy, and the obvious is sometimes unapparent. The probability that the number 10 is actually 10.5 is alot higher than the probability that it is 11, and as we approach 10 itself, the probability gets higher and higher. The idio becomes significant.


Savant showed that for an arbitrary band of values centered around a given number, there is a corresponding range of distinct probabilities, which he called a "Bunch of Idios." He notes:
I knew as soon as I had stumbled onto distinct probabilities that we were talking real possibilities. That means that for a given bunch of idios, there is a corresponding range of values that the number itself falls into. Savant continues: I saw that this discovery could lead to a powerful new algorithm: pick a number, any number, and determine what it might be equal to.


Savant calls this breakthrough the "Idiotheorem," and he knew immediately that it was the key to disproving Fermat. Mr. Savant thinks that the Idiotheorem is almost as good as his Theory of Bad Astronomical Perspective, which says, in simple terms, that in some corners of the Universe there are patterns of stars that exactly resemble very intricate objects like bicycles, microwave ovens, and Barney Fife, but we can't see anything that neat because the Earth has a very bad seat when it comes to constellation viewing.


The immediate task at hand was to assemble a sophisticated collection of computational equipment. This perhaps, ironically, was the most difficult part of Savant's historical feat.
I knew that a monochrome monitor would be essential. The slightest hint of color might throw the calculations way off. And I knew that I couldn't use anything built after 1991, the last recorded palindromic year, which is evenly divisible only by 11 and 181, both palindromes themselves. A 286 wouldn't be broken in enough, so I chose a 285.

And then the magic began.
It took a whole day to set up the program. A mysterious bug kept making it lapse into a primitive form of WordPerfect. I was tempted to halt the entire project, because I really liked the simple, intuitive text editing features, but I pressed on anyway. I first picked my group of idios to be a band of +/- 1% variance. I was amazed to find that there were hundreds of solutions filling the screen, for any power you could possibly think of. But that was too easy; it was just a warmup. I narrowed the idios to +/- 0.01%, and I still got dozens of solutions. I knew that my next step would finally put the Fermat matter to rest for all of eternity. Nothing would have been proved if I didn't get the idios down to actual quantum levels. I set the value to 0.0001%. This is similar to saying that the number 1 will fall into a range of values that differ from 1 by less than 1 millionth. That's a no brainer. I knew that any solution that met this criteria would surely be as completely true as the very Idiotheorem that I based it on.

Success came at one stroke before midnight. The magic and power of the Idiotheorem yielded several solutions to the Fermat Equation. Fermat had finally been proved wrong, and the tortured souls of a thousand mathematicians finally found rest. A formal presentation of Savant's findings is in the works. But for the skeptic and believer alike, Savant allowed this reporter to publish the very first Fermation Solution in all the history of mathematics. Here it is:

And a few more that followed:

54 cubed + 161 cubed = 163 cubed
71 cubed + 138 cubed = 144 cubed
73 cubed + 144 cubed = 150 cubed
128 cubed + 188 cubed = 206 cubed
135 cubed + 138 cubed = 172 cubed

Solutions were also found for the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th powers. These solutions are all accurate to within 1 millionth, well within the range of probabilities defined by the Idiotheorem.

More information is available from Mr. Savant's publicist, at jbshand@mindspring.com



Copyright 1995, Twisted Ruler Productions.



Immense Wisdom from the Idiot