Monthly Archives: December 2017

Fermat’s Little Theorem: proof by group theory

Posted on December 21, 2017 by Brent

It’s time for our third and final proof of Fermat’s Little Theorem, this time using some group theory. This proof is probably the shortest—explaining this proof to a professional mathematician would probably take only a single sentence—but requires you to … Continue reading →

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Post without words #21

Posted on December 18, 2017 by Brent
Posted in combinatorics, geometry, posts without words | Tagged , , | 17 Comments

Fermat’s Little Theorem: proof by necklaces

Posted on December 12, 2017 by Brent

It’s time for our second proof of Fermat’s Little Theorem, this time using a proof by necklaces. As you know, proof by necklaces is a very standard technique for… wait, what do you mean, you’ve never heard of proof by … Continue reading →

Posted in combinatorics, number theory, primes, proof | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments