Pierre de Fermat
Pierre de Fermat
Pierre de Fermat– 12 January 1665) was a French lawyer at the Parlement of Toulouse, France, and a mathematician who is given credit for early developments that led to infinitesimal calculus, including his technique of adequality. In particular, he is recognized for his discovery of an original method of finding the greatest and the smallest ordinates of curved lines, which is analogous to that of the differential calculus, then unknown, and his research into number theory. He made notable contributions...
NationalityFrench
ProfessionLawyer
Date of Birth20 August 1601
CountryFrance
And perhaps, posterity will thank me for having shown it that the ancients did not know everything.
But it is impossible to divide a cube into two cubes, or a fourth power into fourth powers, or generally any power beyond the square into like powers; of this I have found a remarkable demonstration. This margin is too narrow to contain it.