 Born: August 17, 1601
in Beaumont-de-Lomagne, France
Died: January 12, 1665 in Castres, France
Short Biography
 Pierre
de Fermat was a seventeenth-century French mathematician who made important discoveries in
number theory. He also worked on optics and the theory of probability. Fermat also made
some contributions to calculus.
Pierre de Fermat’s father was a wealthy leather merchant and the second consul of
his hometown, Beaumont-de-Lomagne. Pierre began his education at the Franciscan convent of
the Cordeliers in Beaumont. He then went to study with the Jesuits. After attending the
University of Toulouse, he moved to Bordeau. Fermat used Francois Viete’s algebra to
restore Apollonius of Perga’s Plane loci. The restored work was renamed Method
for determining Maxima and Minima and Tangents to Curved Lines.
Fermat also wrote an introduction to geometry called Introduction to Plane and Solid
Loci. He moved to Orleans, where, the University of Orleans gave him the degree of
Bachelor of Civil Laws in 1631. Fermat’s best work was in number theory and analytic
geometry. He was interested in prime numbers. His most famous work is his theorem called
Fermat’s Last Theorem. He worked with Blaise Pascal on the theory of probability. The
curves that Fermat worked on were the:
- Cissoid of Diocles
- Cycloid
- Fermat’s spiral
- Witch of Agnesi
 
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