Fermat’s Last Theorem solved?

While on the subject of inaccurate stories in the press, I came across this story on ABS-CBN and the Manila Times:

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=4433

It talks about a Filipino mathematician, one Edgar Escultura, who claims to have proven Fermat’s last Theorem (FLT) to be false.

Now this is spectacular stuff. To a mathematician, proving or disproving FLT is an even more amazing feat than completing Einstein’s Unified Field Theory, or mapping the human genome.

So it was somewhat a disappointment to me when Rony Diaz, the Times CEO, “wrote” the above story, without as much as doing a little basic homework.

Just listen to the story:

Escultura’s refutation sparked much discussion on the Internet that has spilled over to other fields such as physics, astronomy, cosmology, intelligence, learning, chaos, turbulence, gravity and nonlinear analysis

.

Uh - Fermat’s last Theorem has implications in cosmology? Intelligence and Learning? Chaos Theory?

[Escultura] took the position that the failure to resolve [Fermat’s Last Theorem] for over 360 years reveals the inadequacy and defects of foundations, number theory and the real number system. [Escultura] undertook a thorough critique-rectification of these fields and found, among others, that the real number system in basic algebra, the foundation of mathematics, is defective.

Uh - the real number system is defective? That’s like saying that 1+1 <> 2. (More accurately, he claims that 1+ (0.9999…) <> 2, but then i digress). This guy doesn’t just claim to “solve” Fermat’s Last Theorem, he’s actually starting a whole new branch of Mathematics!

More on the Manila Times hoax is available on Alecks Pabico’s blog:

http://www.pcij.org/blog/?p=73

It turns out that Mr. Escultura even used fake letters from renowned mathematicians - congratulating him on his work - to buttress his theories.

Here is one such letter from a world-famous mathematician to Escultura:

Your work is incredible, I read all of it just yesterday and let me tell you I respect you. I am going to review all my ‘proof’ which I am sure is wrong (thanks to you!).

How could the Manila Times not see through this self-serving crap?