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Fermat's Last Theorem considers solutions to the Fermat equation: a n + b n = c n with positive integers a, b, and c and an integer n greater than 2. There are several generalizations of the Fermat equation to more general equations that allow the exponent n to be a negative integer or rational, or to consider three different exponents.
Fermat's Last Theorem states that no three positive integers (a, b, c) can satisfy the equation a n + b n = c n for any integer value of n greater than 2. (For n equal to 1, the equation is a linear equation and has a solution for every possible a and b. For n equal to 2, the equation has infinitely many solutions, the Pythagorean triples.)
The problem arose again around 1654 when Chevalier de Méré posed it to Blaise Pascal. Pascal discussed the problem in his ongoing correspondence with Pierre de Fermat. Through this discussion, Pascal and Fermat not only provided a convincing, self-consistent solution to this problem, but also developed concepts that are still fundamental to ...
On yet another separate branch of development, in the late 1960s, Yves Hellegouarch came up with the idea of associating hypothetical solutions (a, b, c) of Fermat's equation with a completely different mathematical object: an elliptic curve. [7] The curve consists of all points in the plane whose coordinates (x, y) satisfy the relation
For example, if a = 2 and p = 7, then 2 6 = 64, and 64 − 1 = 63 = 7 × 9 is a multiple of 7. Fermat's little theorem is the basis for the Fermat primality test and is one of the fundamental results of elementary number theory. The theorem is named after Pierre de Fermat, who stated it in 1640.
In mathematics, a proof by infinite descent, also known as Fermat's method of descent, is a particular kind of proof by contradiction [1] used to show that a statement cannot possibly hold for any number, by showing that if the statement were to hold for a number, then the same would be true for a smaller number, leading to an infinite descent and ultimately a contradiction. [2]
De Witte's treatment is more original than that description might suggest, although limited to two dimensions; it uses calculus of variations to show that Huygens' construction and Fermat's principle lead to the same differential equation for the ray path, and that in the case of Fermat's principle, the converse holds. De Witte also noted that ...
Adequality is a technique developed by Pierre de Fermat in his treatise Methodus ad disquirendam maximam et minimam [1] (a Latin treatise circulated in France c. 1636 ) to calculate maxima and minima of functions, tangents to curves, area, center of mass, least action, and other problems in calculus.