Fermat's infinite descent explained | Tangente

Pierre de Fermat published virtually nothing during his lifetime. His eldest son, Samuel, collected and published his father's work. Alongside his rich and demanding professional life as a councillor at the Parlement of Toulouse, Pierre de Fermat was a scholar with an interest in everything literary and scientific. He often stressed how little time he could devote to science—and how much he regretted it. Though he is sometimes called the "Prince of Amateurs," it is his mathematical genius that has secured his place in history.

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