Difference between revisions of "Fermat's Last Theorem"
m (changing to active link) |
m (changing to active link) |
||
Line 6: | Line 6: | ||
==See Also== | ==See Also== | ||
* [[Number Theory]] | * [[Number Theory]] | ||
− | ** [[Diophantine | + | ** [[Diophantine equation]]s |
Revision as of 17:51, 24 June 2006
Fermat's Last Theorem is a long-unproved theorem stating that for integers with , there are no solutions to the equation:
History
Fermat's last theorem was proposed by Pierre Fermat in the margin of his book Arithmetica. The note in the margin (when translated) read: "It is impossible for a cube to be the sum of two cubes, a fourth power to be the sum of two fourth powers, or in general for any number that is a power greater than the second to be the sum of two like powers. I have discovered a truly marvelous demonstration of this proposition that this margin is too narrow to contain." Despite Fermat's claim that a simple proof existed, the theorem wasn't proven until Andrew Wiles did so in 1993. Interestingly enough, Wiles's proof was much more complicated than anything Fermat could have produced himself.