ENGLISH

Fermat's Last Theorem: A Genetic Introduction to Algebraic Number Theory

By Harold M. Edwards

Book information

Publisher
Springer
Year
2000
ISBN
0387902309, 9780387902302, 3540902309, 9783540902300
Language
english
Format
DJVU
Filesize
9 MB (9951697 bytes)
Series
Graduate Texts in Mathematics
Edition
1st ed. 1977. Corr. printing
Pages
428\428
Topic
Mathematics Algebra
Library
mexmat
Time added
2009-07-20 03:45:11

Description

This book is an introduction to algebraic number theory via the famous problem of "Fermat's Last Theorem. The exposition follows the historical development of the problem, beginning with the work of Fermat and ending with Kummer's theory of "ideal" factorization, by means of which the theorem is proved for all prime exponents less than 37. The more elementary topics, such as Euler's proof of the impossibilty of x+y=z, are treated in an elementary way, and new concepts and techniques are introduced only after having been motivated by specific problems. The book also covers in detail the application of Kummer's ideal theory to quadratic integers and relates this theory to Gauss' theory of binary quadratic forms, an interesting and important connection that is not explored in any other book.

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