This paper discusses the
video, "The Proof," a NOVA episode aired on PBS, which presents a look at one man's obsession with
proving or disproving a theory, Fermat's Last Theorem, written over two hundred years ago and never proved. Specifically, it summarizes and reviews the
video, with a focus on what the video tells us about how people learn to do
mathematics. It looks at how "The Proof" is more than just a video about solving a complex mathematical problem and how it is a story of determination, setting goals, and finding out that solutions come from many different places and ideas.