Pierre de Fermat

Mathematician, born in Beaumont-de-Lomagne, S France. He studied law at Toulouse, where he became a councillor of parliament. His passion was mathematics, most of his work being communicated in letters to friends containing results without proof. His correspondence with Pascal marks the foundation of probability theory. He studied maximum and minimum values of functions in advance of the differential calculus, but is best known for his work in number theory, the proofs of many of his discoveries being first published by Leonhard Euler a hundred years later. His ‘last theorem’ was the most famous unsolved problem in mathematics until a proof was demonstrated in 1994. In optics, Fermat's principle was the first statement of a variational principle in physics: the path taken by a ray of light between two given points is the one in which the light takes the least time compared with any other possible path.

Pierre de Fermat (August 17, 1601 – January 12, 1665) was a French lawyer at the Parlement of Toulouse, southern France, and a mathematician who is given credit for the development of modern calculus.

With his insightful theorems Fermat created the modern theory of numbers. The depth of his work can be gauged by the fact that many of his results were not proved for over a century after his death, and one of them, the Last Theorem, took more than 3 centuries to prove.

Although he carefully studied and drew inspiration from Diophantus, Fermat inaugurated a different tradition. Fermat was only interested in integer solutions to his diophantine equations and he looked for all solutions of the equation.

He studied Pell's equation and Fermat, perfect, and amicable numbers. It was while researching perfect numbers that he created Fermat's theorem.

He created the principle of infinite descent and Fermat's factorization method.

He created the two-square theorem, and the polygonal number theorem, which states that each number is a sum of 3 triangular numbers, 4 square numbers, 5 pentagonal numbers, ...

He was the first to evaluate the integral of general power functions.

Although Fermat claimed to be able to prove all his arithmetical results, few of his proofs (if he had them) have survived. And considering that some of the results are so difficult (especially considering the mathematical tools at his disposal) many, including Gauss, believe that Fermat was unable to do so.

Together with René Descartes, Fermat was one of the two leading mathematicians of the first half of the 17th century.

Fermat was born at Beaumont-de-Lomagne, 58 kilometers (36 miles) north-west of Toulouse, France. The oldest and most prestigious high-school in Toulouse is called Pierre de Fermat. The late 15th century mansion where Fermat was born in Beaumont-de-Lomagne is now a museum. The mathematical career of Pierre de Fermat, 1601 - 1665.