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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.)
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.
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 ...
The method was much later developed by Fermat, who coined the term and often used it for Diophantine equations. [4] [5] Two typical examples are showing the non-solvability of the Diophantine equation + = and proving Fermat's theorem on sums of two squares, which states that an odd prime p can be expressed as a sum of two squares when () (see ...
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.
Fermat's factorization method, named after Pierre de Fermat, is based on the representation of an odd integer as the difference of two squares: N = a 2 − b 2 . {\displaystyle N=a^{2}-b^{2}.} That difference is algebraically factorable as ( a + b ) ( a − b ) {\displaystyle (a+b)(a-b)} ; if neither factor equals one, it is a proper ...
The works of the 17th-century mathematician Pierre de Fermat engendered many theorems. Fermat's theorem may refer to one of the following theorems: Fermat's Last Theorem, about integer solutions to a n + b n = c n; Fermat's little theorem, a property of prime numbers; Fermat's theorem on sums of two squares, about primes expressible as a sum of ...