Q 01/05

Who published the first successful proof of Fermat's Last Theorem in 1995?

A) Andrew Wiles

B) Grigori Perelman

C) Terence Tao

D) Jean-Pierre Serre

Answer · why

A) Andrew Wiles

Fermat had written that he had a proof too large to fit in the margin of his copy of Arithmetica.

Q 02/05

How many Millennium Prize Problems did the Clay Mathematics Institute name in 2000?

A) Five

B) Seven

C) Ten

D) Twelve

Answer · why

B) Seven

They include the Riemann hypothesis, P versus NP, Navier-Stokes and the Poincaré conjecture, the only one solved so far.

Q 03/05

The prize presented every four years at the International Congress of Mathematicians goes only to those under what age?

A) 40

B) 45

C) 50

D) 55

Answer · why

A) 40

It is presented every four years at the International Congress of Mathematicians; Maryam Mirzakhani became the first woman to win it in 2014.

Q 04/05

Which honour did Grigori Perelman refuse in 2006, saying he did not want to be 'on display like an animal in a zoo'?

A) The Abel Prize

B) The Fields Medal

C) The Wolf Prize

D) The Nobel Prize

Answer · why

B) The Fields Medal

In 2010 he also declined the first Clay Millennium Prize, worth a million dollars.

Q 05/05

The record prime discovered in October 2024 has how many decimal digits?

A) 41,024,320

B) 82,589,933

C) 136,279,841

D) 410,243,200

Answer · why

A) 41,024,320

It is the Mersenne prime 2^136,279,841 - 1, found by a GIMPS volunteer running cloud machines; at discovery it was the largest prime known.