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Fermat's little theorem

name

Etymology

Named after French lawyer and amateur mathematician Pierre de Fermat (1601–1665), who stated a version of the theorem in a letter in 1640. Called little to distinguish it from Fermat's Last Theorem.

Definitions

  1. The theorem that, for any prime number p and integer a, aᵖ-a is an integer multiple of p.

    • Incidentally, the special case of Fermat's little theorem for a = 2 was known to the Chinese as early as 500 B.C. The first proof of Fermat's little theorem was given by Euler in 1736, almost a century after Fermat's announcement.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for Fermat's little theorem. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA