Fantastic article from the Manila Times regarding a Philippines Professor’s discover that Andrew Wiles proof of Fermat’s Last Theory is flawed. The article is best read for Andrew Wiles response to this which illustrates his thorough English command of the non-mathematical discipline of sarcasm. Especially the phrase “Also I’d like to have the address of the guy who let you get a PhD 30 years ago. I’d like to discuss few things with him. . . “
The reason the Manila Times has this article and NO-ONE ELSE becomes clear at the bottom. Prof Escultura used to write a maffs column for the MT. As for the basis of the flaw he finds in Wiles proof, it soon becomes clear that this is probably because he is using a DIFFERENT NUMBER SYSTEM ALL TOGETHER. I am rather sympathetic to Prof Escultura’s suggestion that all of maths is wrong, and the tantalizing suggestion that this might be due to the operation of universal and existential quantifiers on infinite sets (never been too keen on these meself). However it is akin to disallowing a goal in a football match by changing the rules of the game.