Timeline for How do we know that Fermat wrote his famous note in 1637?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
10 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Jan 13, 2019 at 16:38 | comment | added | Franz Lemmermeyer | I'll say a few things about Fermat in my history of number theory (in German for the time being) due in late 2019 or early 2020.. | |
| Jan 13, 2019 at 9:18 | comment | added | Zach Teitler | @FranzLemmermeyer Were you able to find a publisher for your views on Fermat? | |
| Jun 17, 2016 at 7:47 | comment | added | Mikhail Katz | Nice answer but just one small quibble: "those early days" is not quite accurate. Fermat's mathematical activity goes back to at least 1629 when he worked out a preliminary version of his adequality technique while working in Bordeaux. One could perhaps even say that 1637 is already toward the end of his productive period in mathematics. He devoted most of his energies to law and to the parliament in Toulouse (which was the judicial, legislative, and executive branches rolled into one). | |
| Feb 4, 2012 at 11:37 | history | edited | Franz Lemmermeyer | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Aug 3, 2010 at 11:16 | history | edited | Franz Lemmermeyer | CC BY-SA 2.5 |
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| Jul 27, 2010 at 6:45 | vote | accept | Angelo | ||
| Jul 26, 2010 at 8:06 | comment | added | Franz Lemmermeyer | Still, Fermat discovered it around 1640. It was also used in Euclid's proof that every number has a prime divisor, and Fermat knew the Elements inside out. And the proof of the irrationality of sqrt(2) can be given the form of infinite descent, but the one added as Prop. 117 to Euclid's book X is the proof via contradiction starting from p^2 = 2q^2 with coprime numbers p and q. The geometric version of the descent proof cannot be found in Greek sources, to the best of my knowledge. | |
| Jul 26, 2010 at 7:28 | comment | added | Nurdin Takenov | Infinite descent wasn't discovered in 1640. It was used by ancient Greeks to prove the irrationality of sqrt(2) | |
| Jul 26, 2010 at 2:43 | comment | added | Yemon Choi | +1 for addressing the original question. (This is not meant sarcastically.) | |
| Jul 25, 2010 at 16:09 | history | answered | Franz Lemmermeyer | CC BY-SA 2.5 |