The proof of Fermat's Last Theorem (FLT) can be broken into 2 parts: 1) Proof of the Modularity Theorem (MT) - Wiles (1995) 2) Proof that MT implies FLT - Ribet (1986) Q: if Ribet decided to not publish the paper until 1995, would he have been crowned as the guy who cracked FLT?
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both :) actually I've seen several people talking about the compressibility of Wiles' proof. A lot of mathematicians believe there's no shorter alternative proof.
I think the concept of “quickest proof” is fascinating in the field of formal logic
