Cuius rei demostrationem mirabilem sane detexi hanc marginis exiquitas non caperet.
Tengo una prueba verdaderamente maravillosa para esta afirmación, pero el margen es demasiado estrecho para contenerla.
Pierre de Fermat
Born: circa 1607 Died: January 12, 1665
Pierre de Fermat (Between 31 October and 6 December 1607 to 12 January 1665) was a French mathematician who is given credit for early developments that led to infinitesimal calculus, including his technique of adequality. In particular, he is recognized for his discovery of an original method of finding the greatest and the smallest ordinates of curved lines, which is analogous to that of differential calculus, then unknown, and his research into number theory. He made notable contributions to analytic geometry, probability, and optics. He is best known for his Fermat's principle for light propagation and his Fermat's Last Theorem in number theory, which he described in a note at the margin of a copy of Diophantus' Arithmetica. He was also a lawyer at the Parlement of Toulouse, France.
Biographical information from: Wikiquote
Et peut-être la posterité me saura gré de lui avoir fait connaître que les Anciens n’ont pas tout su. (<i>And perhaps, posterity will thank me for having shown that the ancients did not know everything</i>.)
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It is impossible to separate a cube into two cubes, or a fourth power into two fourth powers, or in general, any power higher than the second, into two like powers. I have discovered a truly marvelous proof of this, which this margin is too narrow to contain.
[Cubum autem in duos cubos, aut quadratoquadratum in duos quadratoquadratos & generaliter nullam in infinitum ultra quadratum potestatem in duos eiusdem nominis fas est dividere cuius rei demonstrationem mirabilem sane detexi. Hanc marginis exiguitas non caperet.]