Sunday, April 27, 2014

The Work of Fermat Through Law into Mathematics

According to MacTutor's page on Pierre de Fermat1, following earning his law degree, In Toulouse he bought the offices of Councillor at the parliament and in this town became both a lawyer and government official. From tjis point on Fermat continued to live and work in Toulouse but also found work in both the towns of Beaumont-de-Lomagne and Castres. As of May 14, 1631 Fermat worked within the lower chamber of the parliament until he was promoted to a higher chamber on January 16,1638. He remained at this level until 1652 when he was given the highest rank possible at the criminal court. A plague began to go through the area in the 1650's, sicking Fermat in 1653. Fermat was reported dead but this was later found to be a mistake. After this period of time, Fermat's work in mathematics began to grow.


1 This source is the only one to tell that his name is actually "Pierre Fermat". He was entitled to "Pierre de Fermat" when he began work as a government official.

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