Pierre de Fermat is one of the greatest scientists in the history of France. His achievements include the creation of such works as the theory of probability and numbers, he is the author of outstanding theorems and the discoverer of a number of mathematical properties. From a very young age, his parents paid great attention to the education of their son, and, most likely, this is what influenced the formation of a grandiose mind. Always calm and active, inquisitive and strict, seeking and finding - all this is Pierre de Fermat. A short biography will help the reader to find out for himself all the most interesting things about this colossal mathematician.
Early stages
Pierre was born in France. He is one of the pioneers and creators of number theory and analytic geometry.
For a long time it was said that Pierre de Fermat was born in 1595 in Toulouse, but by the middle of the nineteenth century in the city of Beaumont, a record was found in the archives, which said that in the summer of 1601 the councilor of the city Dominique Fermat and his wife, the son Pierre was born. It is known that Dominique Fermat was a very respected person in the city. He was a merchantskin. Pierre spent his childhood years next to his parents, and when it came time to get an education, he left for Toulouse, the closest city with universities. A well-studied law on the bench of the university gave Pierre the opportunity to work as a lawyer, but the young man decided to go to the service of the state. In 1631, Pierre was enrolled as an adviser to the cash registers in the parliament of Toulouse. At this time, Fermat was already married to the daughter of the councilor of the parliament in which he worked. His life was very quiet and peaceful. But thanks to him, today people who study mathematics can learn a lot of interesting information for themselves, which is truly priceless. Even in the school curriculum, attention is actively paid to the topic "Pierre de Fermat and his discoveries."
Passion for history
In his youth, the future mathematician was famous as the finest connoisseur of history (especially antiquity), he was asked for help when publishing the classics of Greece. He left comments on the works of Sinezug, Athenaeus, Polyunus, Frontinus, Theon of Smyrna, and made corrections to the texts of Sextus Empiricus. Many believe that he could easily have made his mark as a prominent Greek philologist.
However, due to the fact that he chose a different path, his grandiose research in its magnitude saw the light. And that's why most people know that Pierre Fermat is a mathematician.
About his work during his lifetime, it became known mainly through the extensive correspondence that Fermat had with other scientists. A collection of essays, which he tried to compile more than once, was never put into practice. Actuallyspeaking, this is a logical outcome with such a workload at the main job in court. During Pierre's lifetime, none of the mass of his writings was published.
Pierre de Fermat: discoveries in mathematics
One of the first works in the field of mathematics by Pierre de Fermat is the renewal of two lost books-compositions of Apollonius called "On Flat Places". Most see Pierre's colossal contribution to science in his introduction of infinitesimal quantities into analytic geometry. He took this all-important step in 1629. Also in the late twenties, Pierre Fermat found ways to find tangents and extrema. And already in 1636, a fully completed description of the method of finding was handed over to Mersenne, and anyone could get acquainted with this work.
Controversy with Descartes
In 1637-38, the French mathematician Pierre de Fermat argued violently with the equally outstanding mathematician Rene Descartes. The controversy arose around the "Method of finding minima and maxima." Descartes did not fully understand the method and did not understand it, for this reason he subjected him to unfair criticism. In the summer of 1638, Pierre Fermat sent Mersenne to convey to Descartes an updated and more detailed exposition of his method. His letter reflects his reserved nature, because it is written in an extremely dry and calm manner, but at the same time there is a certain amount of irony in it. His letter even contains a direct mockery of the misunderstanding of Descartes. Farm never once entered into a senseless and unrestrained controversy, he constantlymaintained an even and cold tone. It was not an argument, but rather, the conversation was like a conversation between a teacher and a student who did not understand something.
Systematics for calculating areas
Before Pierre Fermat, methods for finding areas were developed by the Italian Cavalieri. However, by 1642 Fermat discovered a way to find areas that are limited by any "parabolas" and "hyperbolas". He managed to prove that the area of almost any unbounded figure can still have a finite value.
Problem of straightening curves
One of the very first to study the problem of calculating the lengths of arcs of curves. He managed to bring the solution of the problem to finding some areas. All problems involving curves were reduced to calculating the area. There was one drop left to introduce a new and more abstract concept of "integral".
In the future, the whole positive outcome of the methods for determining "area" was in the search for a relationship with the "method of extrema and tangents". There is evidence that Fermat already saw a clear relationship, but none of his writings reflect this point of view.
Unlike most of his colleagues in the case, Pierre de Fermat was a pure mathematician and never tried to explore other branches of science. It is probably for this reason that his most powerful contribution to all of mathematics is so deep and great.
About number theory
The most important contribution of Fermat to mathematics to this day is considered the creation of a completely new discipline -number theory. Throughout his career, the scientist was interested in arithmetic problems, which he sometimes invented and guessed himself. In the process of finding answers to the questions posed in the tasks, Fermat often discovered something completely new and unique. New algorithms and laws, theorems and properties - all this once formed the basis of number theory, which is known to every schoolchild today.
Contribution to the work of other scientists
Thus, Pierre Fermat discovered patterns for natural numbers and established them for centuries. Works on natural numbers are called "theorems of arithmetic". One of them, for example, is the famous "small theorem". Later it served Euler as a special case for his works. It is also known that it was the works of Pierre Fermat that laid the foundation for Lagrange's 4-square sum theorem.
Fermat's Theorem
Of course, the most prominent of Pierre's works is his great and powerful theorem. It has puzzled the greatest mathematicians for many years and even decades, and even after it was published in 1995, new and very diverse methods of its proofs are still entering the departments with a mathematical bias in many universities of the world.
Although Fermat left only brief summaries of his work and fragmentary information, it was his discoveries that gave impetus to many other outstanding mathematical geniuses. One of the most prestigious and oldest lyceums in France, the Pierre de Fermat Lyceum in Toulouse, was named after him.
Deathscientist
During his most active work in the field of mathematics, Fermat is moving up at a fairly rapid pace in a court case. In 1648, Pierre became a member of the Chamber of Edicts. Such a high position testified to the highest position of a scientist.
In Castres, where Fermat became an edict, he dies when leaving for the next session of the court. Death came to the mathematician at the age of only 64 years. The eldest son of the scientist undertook to convey the works of his father to people and published a number of his studies.
That was Pierre Fermat. His biography was rich, and life left a mark for all time.
The works of this giant of mathematics cannot be overestimated or underestimated, because they laid a solid foundation for many researchers. Pierre Fermat, whose photo (portraits) are given in the article, had a strong character that helped him achieve his goals all his life.
