Fermat s room mathematicians biography

Pierre de Fermat. 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 then unknown differential calculus, as well as his research into the theory of numbers.

Where was pierre de fermat born

He made notable contributions to analytic geometry, probability, and optics. He is best known for Fermat's Last Theorem, which he described in a note at the margin of a copy of Diophantus' Arithmetica. Fermat was born in Beaumont-de-Lomagne, Tarn-et-Garonne, France; the late 15th century mansion where Fermat was born is now a museum.

He was of Basque origin. Fermat's father was a wealthy leather merchant and second consul of Beaumont-de-Lomagne. Pierre had a brother and two sisters and was almost certainly brought up in the town of his birth. There is little evidence concerning his school education, but it may have been at the local Franciscan monastery. Buste in the Salle des Illustres in Capitole de Toulouse.

He attended the University of Toulouse before moving to Bordeaux in the second half of the s.

Pierre de fermat contributions to mathematics

In Bordeaux he began his first serious mathematical researches and in he gave a copy of his restoration of Apollonius's De Locis Planis to one of the mathematicians there. There he became much influenced by the work of Franciscus Vieta. He received a degree in civil law before, in , receiving the title of councillor at the High Court of Judicature in Toulouse, which he held for the rest of his life.

Due to the office he now held he became entitled to change his name from Pierre Fermat to Pierre de Fermat. Fluent in Latin, Basque , classical Greek, Italian, and Spanish, Fermat was praised for his written verse in several languages, and his advice was eagerly sought regarding the emendation of Greek texts. He communicated most of his work in letters to friends, often with little or no proof of his theorems.