Men of Mathematics
“—P. FERMAT NOT ALL OF OUR DUCKS can be swans; so after having exhibited Descartes as one of the leading mathematicians of all time, we shall have to justify the assertion, frequently made and seldom contradicted, that the greatest mathematician of the seventeenth century was Descartes’ contemporary Fermat (1601?–1665). This of course leaves Newton (1642–1727) out of consideration. But it can be argued that Fermat was at least Newton’s equal as a pure mathematician, and anyhow nearly a third of ...Newton’s life fell into the eighteenth century, whereas the whole of Fermat’s was lived out in the seventeenth.
Newton appears to have regarded his mathematics principally as an instrument for scientific exploration and put his main effort on the latter. Fermat on the other hand was more strongly attracted to pure mathematics although he also did notable work in the applications of mathematics to science, particularly optics.
Mathematics had just entered its modern phase with Descartes’ publication of analytic geometry in 1637, and was still for many years to be of such modest extent that a gifted man could reasonably hope to do good work in both the pure and applied divisions.MoreLess
Newton appears to have regarded his mathematics principally as an instrument for scientific exploration and put his main effort on the latter. Fermat on the other hand was more strongly attracted to pure mathematics although he also did notable work in the applications of mathematics to science, particularly optics.
Mathematics had just entered its modern phase with Descartes’ publication of analytic geometry in 1637, and was still for many years to be of such modest extent that a gifted man could reasonably hope to do good work in both the pure and applied divisions.MoreLess
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