3 ms·

Fermat was a brilliant social engineer as well as mathematician.

• rrmm 6y ago
  It's the predecessor of the dictum about putting a wrong answer on the internet to get the right answer. Sorta, and with a few hundred years involved.
• QuesnayJr 6y ago
  He wrote the note to himself, a long time before he died. He then publicly announced a proof for the n=4 case, and nothing about the general case. It strongly suggests that he realized his proof was wrong.