Statue de pierre de fermat biography

After Bordeaux were his travel to Orleans where he studied law and gained a civil law degree in His mathematical work continued along with his job as councilor. He often wrote letters to his friends which consisted of many theorems however many of these did not include any proof to them. His work in analytical geometry was inspired from a famous problem of Apollonius.

Fermat provided a proof to this problem using analytical methods. He also found a way of calculating the length of a curve. In , Fermat married his distant relative on his mother's side, Louise de Long. Pierre and Louise had five children, the eldest of whom, Samuel, became a poet and scholar. Samuel was responsible for publishing the first collection of Pierre Fermat's works, which was released in None of Fermat's works were published during his lifetime.

However, he gave a complete form to several treatises, and they became known in manuscript form to most of his contemporary scientists. Fermat's major contribution to science is usually seen in his introduction of infinitesimals into analytic geometry, similar to what Kepler did with the geometry of the ancients. He made this important step in his works on greatest and least quantities dating back to These works opened up a series of investigations by Fermat that became one of the most significant links in the history of the development of not only higher analysis in general but also calculus of infinitesimals in particular.

Fermat was one of the first to tackle the problem of rectifying curves, that is, calculating the length of their arcs.

Statue de pierre de fermat biography

He managed to reduce this problem to the calculation of certain areas. However, Pierre survived that phase and went on to continue his duties at the court. Pierre died in in Castres, Tarn. Fermat is considered one of the greatest French mathematicians of the 17th Century. He made contributions to every field of mathematics that existed during his era.

He explored the mathematical areas, including analytical geometry, infinite descent, and pre-evolved calculus. He considered mathematics to be a hobby, which is why he never published his work. This theorem has puzzled mathematicians for years until recently. He also contributed to the development of calculus through his work on the properties of curves.

He relied on geometric and physical intuition to find the areas bounded by these curves through a summation process. For other uses, see List of things named after Pierre de Fermat. Beaumont-de-Lomagne , France. Castres , France. Biography [ edit ]. Work [ edit ]. Death [ edit ]. Assessment of his work [ edit ]. See also [ edit ]. Notes [ edit ].

References [ edit ]. Mathematical Association of America". Retrieved Totally History. Essential Calculus: Early Transcendental Functions. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN A short account of the history of mathematics. General Books LLC. Taylor and A. Wiles" PDF. Notices of the American Mathematical Society. MR Encyclopedia Britannica.

Mathematics from the birth of numbers , W. Zbl Archived from the original on Mathematical Thought from Ancient to Modern Times.