Pierre de Fermat (1601-1665) was a French magistrate who was very interested in mathematics. He is especially known for the statement that there are no nonzero integer solutions x, y and z to the equation
when n is an integer greater than 2. (For n = 2 there are lots of solutions, see Exercise 11 of the next chapter.)
Fermat wrote this statement in the margin of a book and claimed
to have proved it.
Although many mathematicians have tried to prove this statement,
it took more than 300 years before a rigorous proof was found.
In 1994, Andrew Wiles finally came up with a proof, that uses very deep
and advanced mathematics. Whether Fermat really proved the statement
is still unclear.
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