The Wonders of Arithmetic from Pierre Simon de Fermat - страница 6

Again, are you in doubt? But that is why you would never guess what are those shifts, and when you find out, you can hardly believe that they are possible, but secrets behind seven seals cannot be other. Until someone gets to them and begins to slowly reveal them, everyone will remain in the dark about how a much is arranged in this world and why it is better to know about it than to live in ignorance about the existence of the wonderful world of science where perfection and precision dominate. And it is just curious to find out how, for example, does look the proofs of the Fermat’s theorems that turned out to be inaccessible even to the greatest scientists. Now there is a book that allows everyone to see with one's own eyes all these hidden and inmost secrets unknown to current science and thereby receive a unique opportunity to rise to a height unattainable before.

It is enough to see the name Fermat in the title of our work to suppose something great in it. It was such a remarkable man that he could not create anything petty, even average: his mind shone with such a brilliance that he could not tolerate anything dark. It may be said that he is similar to the sun in a moment driving off the dusk and spilling the blinding light of its bright rays even into the abysm. Until now, everyone has been amazed by Diophantus and this is well deserved; but, no matter how great he was, it is a pygmy in comparison with such a giant who has come a long way around the world of mathematics traversed lands that have never been seen before. Vieta was praised by all those who in our century devoted themselves to the study of algebraic operations, so for the glorification of some scientist it was enough to say that in the work on analysis he followed the thoughts of this author. But he also did not reach the heights of science which will become clear from the many examples explained below. Before Claude Gaspar Bachet I always bowed down as before a man of the subtlest mind; in addition, he was a close friend of mine and his research on Diophantus perfectly shows how astute he was in the science of numbers. But his gaze is weaker if you compare it with the lynx eyes of our Fermat, which penetrated into the most intimate depths.

Jacques de Billy, 1670