Sophie Germain: mathématicienne extraordinaire - Scripps College
Sophie Germain: mathématicienne extraordinaire - Scripps College
Sophie Germain: mathématicienne extraordinaire - Scripps College
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The First Attempts 37<br />
If we substitute X = x m , Y = y m , and Z = z m , we get<br />
X 4 + Y 4 = Z 4 .<br />
This gives us the following corollaries:<br />
Corollary 1. For any m ∈ N, the equation x 4m + y 4m = z 4m has no non-trivial<br />
integer solutions.<br />
Moreover, we consider any x m + y m = z m for even m. If m is even<br />
then either 4|m or m ≡ 2 (mod 4). If 4|m, we have shown that there are no<br />
integer solution to the equation. If 4 ∤ m but 2|m and m = 2d for some odd<br />
integer d, we rewrite x 2d + y 2d = z 2d as<br />
(x 2 ) d + (y 2 ) d = (z 2 ) d .<br />
Corollary 2. If the equation x 2p + y 2p = z 2p has a non-trivial integer solution<br />
x 0 , y 0 , and z 0 , then X p + Y p = Z p must also have integer solutions.<br />
In particular, the solutions must be X 0 = x 2 0 , Y 0 = y0 2, and Z 0 = z0 2.<br />
Thus, we need only consider Fermat’s Last theorem for n = d ≥ 3, an odd<br />
integer.<br />
If p is a prime and n = pm for some m ≥ 1, then consider any solutions<br />
x 0 , y 0 , and z 0 to the equation x n + y n = z n . We can rewrite this equation as<br />
(x m ) p + (y m ) p = (z m ) p , with solutions x m 0 , ym 0 , and zm 0<br />
. Thus it suffices to<br />
consider non-trivial integer solutions to the equation x p + y p = z p for all<br />
primes p > 2.