Eureka! For Princeton math whiz Andrew Wiles, tackling an equation is like groping around in a dark mansion, finding the light switch, and suddenly seeing, with utter clarity, where you are. But in Wiles’s case, the mathematical challenge of his childhood--proving Fermat’s Last Theorem, a famous enigma that had stumped experts for three centuries--would take eight years of seclusion. With Wile's apparent success came the triumphant glare of publicity . . . until a disappointing discovery forced him back undercover to retrace the steps of his difficult quest.

Follow a fascinating tale of obsession, secrecy, brilliance, and the camaradarie of kindred souls. Enter a rarefied world inhabited by the world’s foremost mathematical minds, where the joy of finding an absolute solution is giddily contagious- whether that proof is entirely your own or a bridge linking others mathematicians’ conjectures. With the help of computer animation, see complex mathematical concepts, such as elliptical curves and modular forms, pictured in beautiful 3-D symmetry. And hear Wiles himself describe the “incredible revelation” that finally led him- and three centuries of mathematicians- out of the dark. “Fermat’s Last Theorem has been reponsible for so much,” marvels a colleague. “What will we find to take its place?”