「費馬大定理」的證明者 Andrew Wiles 講過，一個數學問題的最大價值，不在於該問題的解答本身，而在於尋找那個解答途中，可以衍生多少（門）新的數學知識。

「費馬大定理」只有一句，數學家們卻需要動用數門數學分支，花了三百多年的時間，才能成功建構它的證明。

— Me@2010.09.26

The problem with working on Fermat is that you could spend years getting nothing. It’s fine to work on any problem so long as it generates mathematics. Almost the definition of a good mathematical problem is the mathematics it generates, rather than the problem itself.

— Andrew Wiles

2010.09.26 Sunday (c) All rights reserved by ACHK