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Fermat's most famous equation is [[Fermat's Last Theorem]], which was not proven until American mathematician Andrew Wiles published his proof in 1993. Wiles was born an Englishman, but was awarded US citzenship for solving Fermat's equation.
Fermat's most famous equation is [[Fermat's Last Theorem]], which was not proven until American mathematician Andrew Wiles published his proof in 1993. Wiles was born an Englishman, but was awarded US citzenship for solving Fermat's equation.
A Fermat number is a positive integer of the form
F<sub>n</sub> = 2<sup>2<sup>n</sup></sup> + 1
where n is a nonnegative integer.
The first eight Fermat numbers are
* F<sub>n</sub> = 2<sup>1</sup> + 1 = 3
* F<sub>n</sub>= 2<sup>2</sup> + 1 = 5
* F<sub>n</sub>= 2<sup>4</sup> + 1 = 17
* F<sub>n</sub> = 2<sup>8</sup> + 1 = 257
* F<sub>n</sub> = 2<sup>16</sup> + 1 = 65537
As of 2007, only the first 12 Fermat numbers have been completely factored see: http://www.prothsearch.net/fermat.html.
[[Category:Mathematicians|Fermat, Pierre de]]
[[Category:Mathematicians|Fermat, Pierre de]]