There may have been very few New Yorkers who understood that this "cute scholar" graffiti at the 8th Street subway station in New York referred to the unresolved mathematical puzzle, known as Fermat's Last Theorem, and its strange history.

In the 17th century, while studying Diophantus's book "Arithmetica," Pierre de Fermat focused on the Pythagorean theorem and noted in the margin of the page the conclusion that it is impossible for xn + yn to equal zn. He also added: "I have discovered a truly marvelous proof, but this margin is too narrow to contain it."

For the next 350 years, this phrase of Fermat became an obsession for the most famous mathematical minds, who have since engaged in a tremendous struggle to solve the most renowned mathematical problem.

[Excerpt from the text on the back cover of the edition]