Andrew Wiles

Fermat couldn't possibly have had this proof.

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.

I loved doing problems in school. I'd take them home and make up new ones of my own.

Fermat was my childhood passion.

But what has made this problem special for amateurs is that there's a tiny possibility that there does exist an elegant 17th-century proof.

But perhaps that's always the way with math problems, and we just have to find new ones to capture our attention.

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.

I really believed that I was on the right track, but that did not mean that I would necessarily reach my goal.

Here was a problem, that I, a ten year old, could understand and I knew from that moment that I would never let it go. I had to solve it.

Young children simply aren't interested in Fermat. They just want to hear a story and they're not going to let you do anything else.

However impenetrable it seems, if you don't try it, then you can never do it.

I had this rare privilege of being able to pursue in my adult life, what had been my childhood dream.

Certainly one thing that I've learned is that it is important to pick a problem based on how much you care about it.

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.

I realized that anything to do with Fermat's Last Theorem generates too much interest.