Fermat Last Theorem statement and infinite descent
Enunciado del último teorema de Fermat y descenso infinito
- Date
- c. 1637 · confidence low
- Place
- Toulouse, France
- Credited to
- Pierre de Fermat
- People
- 👤 Pierre de Fermat1601–1665
- Field
- Knowledge & symbols
What was discovered
The claim that x^n + y^n = z^n has no positive integer solutions for n > 2, noted in the margin of Diophantus with a supposedly marvellous proof that would not fit. Fermat did prove the case n = 4 using the method of infinite descent.
It is considered highly unlikely that Fermat had a general proof; he also formulated Fermat's little theorem (1640), the basis of primality tests.
What it led to
- modern number theory
- Kummer and Dedekind's ideals
- elliptic curves and modularity
- Wiles's proof (1994)