---
title: 'Mathematic Mistake – Car Talk Puzzler'
url: 'https://blog.recursiveprocess.com/2018/09/22/mathematic-mistake-car-talk-puzzler'
markdown: 'https://blog.recursiveprocess.com/2018/09/22/mathematic-mistake-car-talk-puzzler.md'
date: '2018-09-22'
description: "RAY:\_Everyone, almost everyone remembers the Pythagorean Theorem. A squared, plus B squared, equals C squared. And there are numbers like three, four and five; five, 12, 13 which satisfy that little equation.Many hundreds of years ago a French mathematician by the name of Fermat said, this only wo…"
taxonomy:
  category:
    - blog
---

# Mathematic Mistake – Car Talk Puzzler

### [Mathematic Mistake – Car Talk Puzzler](https://blog.recursiveprocess.com/2018/09/22/mathematic-mistake-car-talk-puzzler)

   September 22, 2018, 12:00 am  

> **RAY:** Everyone, almost everyone remembers the Pythagorean Theorem. A squared, plus B squared, equals C squared. And there are numbers like three, four and five; five, 12, 13 which satisfy that little equation.
> Many hundreds of years ago a French mathematician by the name of Fermat said, this only works for squares. There is no A cubed plus B cubed, which equals C cubed. There is no A to the fourth plus B to the fourth that equals C to the fourth. Etc.
> As luck would have it, a young mathematician issues a statement that he has three numbers which prove Fermat’s theorem is incorrect. He calls a press conference. Now, he doesn’t want to divulge everything right away. He wants to dramatize, build a little bit, does he not?
> So he gives them all three numbers. But he doesn’t tell the power.
> A equals 91.
> B equals 56.
> C equals 121.
> So, it just so happens that at this little impromptu press conference, there are all these science reporters from all the po-dunky little newspapers that are around this town. And one of the guys, one of the reporters has his 10-year-old kid with him, because this happens to be a holiday. He’s off from school. And the kid very sheepishly stands up and raises his hand, and he said, I hate to disagree with you, sir, but you’re wrong. The question is, how did he know?
> 
> https://www.cartalk.com/puzzler/mathematic-mistake

 [ Next Post](https://blog.recursiveprocess.com/2019/11/07/paemst) [Previous Post ](https://blog.recursiveprocess.com/2018/08/27/classroom-top-four-4-interests-and-interesting-things)

#### SimpleSearch

Bootstrap Theme for [Grav](http://getgrav.org)

---

## Navigation

- Parent: [A Recursive Process](https://blog.recursiveprocess.com/index.md)
- Previous: [PAEMST!](https://blog.recursiveprocess.com/2019/11/07/paemst.md)
- Next: [Classroom Top Four – #4 Interests and Interesting Things](https://blog.recursiveprocess.com/2018/08/27/classroom-top-four-4-interests-and-interesting-things.md)