#puremathematics — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #puremathematics, aggregated by home.social.
-
From a Mathematical Curiosity to the Foundation of Internet Security 🧮🧐🔐✨
In 1636, Pierre de Fermat made a remarkable observation: if you take an integer a, raise it to a prime power p, and then subtract a, the result is always divisible by p. In other words, for a prime p,
aᵖ ≡ a (mod p).
For example, when p = 5:
2⁵ − 2 = 30, which is divisible by 5, and
3⁵ − 3 = 240, which is also divisible by 5.Fermat found this property elegant and tried to spark interest in this curious corner of mathematics. Not everyone was impressed. John Wallis reportedly dismissed such results, remarking, “Big deal; I could find other relationships just as interesting without much effort, and none of them are important.”
About a century later, Leonhard Euler was encouraged by Christian Goldbach to study Fermat’s ideas. Though initially unenthusiastic, Euler soon uncovered deeper structure within them. His work laid much of the foundation for what we now call modern number theory.
#Mathematics #Math #NumberTheory #Fermat #Euler #EulerTheorem #FermatsLittleTheorem #ModularArithmetic #RSA #Cryptography #CyberSecurity #HistoryOfMathematics #MathHistory #PrimeNumbers #EulerTotient #AbstractMath #PureMathematics #STEM #ScienceCommunication #MathEducation #EducationalContent #DidYouKnow #MathematicalBeauty #InternetSecurity #Encryption #Curiosity #Innovation #History #Learning #Knowledge
-
From a Mathematical Curiosity to the Foundation of Internet Security 🧮🧐🔐✨
In 1636, Pierre de Fermat made a remarkable observation: if you take an integer a, raise it to a prime power p, and then subtract a, the result is always divisible by p. In other words, for a prime p,
aᵖ ≡ a (mod p).
For example, when p = 5:
2⁵ − 2 = 30, which is divisible by 5, and
3⁵ − 3 = 240, which is also divisible by 5.Fermat found this property elegant and tried to spark interest in this curious corner of mathematics. Not everyone was impressed. John Wallis reportedly dismissed such results, remarking, “Big deal; I could find other relationships just as interesting without much effort, and none of them are important.”
About a century later, Leonhard Euler was encouraged by Christian Goldbach to study Fermat’s ideas. Though initially unenthusiastic, Euler soon uncovered deeper structure within them. His work laid much of the foundation for what we now call modern number theory.
#Mathematics #Math #NumberTheory #Fermat #Euler #EulerTheorem #FermatsLittleTheorem #ModularArithmetic #RSA #Cryptography #CyberSecurity #HistoryOfMathematics #MathHistory #PrimeNumbers #EulerTotient #AbstractMath #PureMathematics #STEM #ScienceCommunication #MathEducation #EducationalContent #DidYouKnow #MathematicalBeauty #InternetSecurity #Encryption #Curiosity #Innovation #History #Learning #Knowledge
-
From a Mathematical Curiosity to the Foundation of Internet Security 🧮🧐🔐✨
In 1636, Pierre de Fermat made a remarkable observation: if you take an integer a, raise it to a prime power p, and then subtract a, the result is always divisible by p. In other words, for a prime p,
aᵖ ≡ a (mod p).
For example, when p = 5:
2⁵ − 2 = 30, which is divisible by 5, and
3⁵ − 3 = 240, which is also divisible by 5.Fermat found this property elegant and tried to spark interest in this curious corner of mathematics. Not everyone was impressed. John Wallis reportedly dismissed such results, remarking, “Big deal; I could find other relationships just as interesting without much effort, and none of them are important.”
About a century later, Leonhard Euler was encouraged by Christian Goldbach to study Fermat’s ideas. Though initially unenthusiastic, Euler soon uncovered deeper structure within them. His work laid much of the foundation for what we now call modern number theory.
#Mathematics #Math #NumberTheory #Fermat #Euler #EulerTheorem #FermatsLittleTheorem #ModularArithmetic #RSA #Cryptography #CyberSecurity #HistoryOfMathematics #MathHistory #PrimeNumbers #EulerTotient #AbstractMath #PureMathematics #STEM #ScienceCommunication #MathEducation #EducationalContent #DidYouKnow #MathematicalBeauty #InternetSecurity #Encryption #Curiosity #Innovation #History #Learning #Knowledge
-
From a Mathematical Curiosity to the Foundation of Internet Security 🧮🧐🔐✨
In 1636, Pierre de Fermat made a remarkable observation: if you take an integer a, raise it to a prime power p, and then subtract a, the result is always divisible by p. In other words, for a prime p,
aᵖ ≡ a (mod p).
For example, when p = 5:
2⁵ − 2 = 30, which is divisible by 5, and
3⁵ − 3 = 240, which is also divisible by 5.Fermat found this property elegant and tried to spark interest in this curious corner of mathematics. Not everyone was impressed. John Wallis reportedly dismissed such results, remarking, “Big deal; I could find other relationships just as interesting without much effort, and none of them are important.”
About a century later, Leonhard Euler was encouraged by Christian Goldbach to study Fermat’s ideas. Though initially unenthusiastic, Euler soon uncovered deeper structure within them. His work laid much of the foundation for what we now call modern number theory.
#Mathematics #Math #NumberTheory #Fermat #Euler #EulerTheorem #FermatsLittleTheorem #ModularArithmetic #RSA #Cryptography #CyberSecurity #HistoryOfMathematics #MathHistory #PrimeNumbers #EulerTotient #AbstractMath #PureMathematics #STEM #ScienceCommunication #MathEducation #EducationalContent #DidYouKnow #MathematicalBeauty #InternetSecurity #Encryption #Curiosity #Innovation #History #Learning #Knowledge
-
From a Mathematical Curiosity to the Foundation of Internet Security 🧮🧐🔐✨
In 1636, Pierre de Fermat made a remarkable observation: if you take an integer a, raise it to a prime power p, and then subtract a, the result is always divisible by p. In other words, for a prime p,
aᵖ ≡ a (mod p).
For example, when p = 5:
2⁵ − 2 = 30, which is divisible by 5, and
3⁵ − 3 = 240, which is also divisible by 5.Fermat found this property elegant and tried to spark interest in this curious corner of mathematics. Not everyone was impressed. John Wallis reportedly dismissed such results, remarking, “Big deal; I could find other relationships just as interesting without much effort, and none of them are important.”
About a century later, Leonhard Euler was encouraged by Christian Goldbach to study Fermat’s ideas. Though initially unenthusiastic, Euler soon uncovered deeper structure within them. His work laid much of the foundation for what we now call modern number theory.
#Mathematics #Math #NumberTheory #Fermat #Euler #EulerTheorem #FermatsLittleTheorem #ModularArithmetic #RSA #Cryptography #CyberSecurity #HistoryOfMathematics #MathHistory #PrimeNumbers #EulerTotient #AbstractMath #PureMathematics #STEM #ScienceCommunication #MathEducation #EducationalContent #DidYouKnow #MathematicalBeauty #InternetSecurity #Encryption #Curiosity #Innovation #History #Learning #Knowledge
-
As we march towards the end of 2025, we reflect on the amazing mathematical journeys that our contributors have transported us to! In total, we published 11 stories and 4 blogs this year. Our contributors' mathematical backgrounds range from #PureMathematics to #AppliedSciences including #MathematicalBiology. These stories and blogs by amazing women also encompass their wide-ranging mathematical careers from penning #MathematicalPoetries to working in #QuantumScience. Please give these inspiring articles a read! We’ll be back on the 7th of January 2026! We wish you Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year!
🖥️ Story by Anna Ma: https://hermathsstory.eu/anna-ma/
🗄️ Story by Catherine Micek: https://hermathsstory.eu/catherine-micek/
🩺 Story by Bindi Brook: https://hermathsstory.eu/bindi-brook/
📝 Story by JoAnne Growney: https://hermathsstory.eu/joanne-growney/
🗺️ Story by Kateryna Marynets: https://hermathsstory.eu/kateryna-marynets/
📈 Story by Alexandra Edletzberger: https://hermathsstory.eu/alexandra-edletzberger/
⚛️ Story by Laura Lewis: https://hermathsstory.eu/laura-lewis/
🌗 Story by Mihyun Kang: https://hermathsstory.eu/mihyun-kang/
🎻 Story by Anna Breger: https://hermathsstory.eu/anna-breger/
🛣️ Story by Ilse Fisher: https://hermathsstory.eu/ilse-fischer/
🔐 Story by Surya Mathialagan: https://hermathsstory.eu/surya-mathialagan/📜 Blog by Jessy Randall on “Poetry as Lens: Two Historical Women Mathematicians”: https://hermathsstory.eu/poetry-as-lens-two-historical-women-mathematicians/
🤝 Blog by Jamie Haddock & Anna Little on “Association for Women in Mathematics at the SIAM/CAIMS 2025 Annual Meeting”: https://hermathsstory.eu/association-for-women-in-mathematics-at-the-siam-caims-2025-annual-meeting/
🧭 Blog by Rosie Evans & Ashleigh Ratcliffe on “The Piscopia Initiative & How to Train Your Allies present: What Can You Do?”: https://hermathsstory.eu/the-piscopia-initiative-how-to-train-your-allies-present-what-can-you-do/
🎥 Blog by us on “Reflecting on ‘Counted Out’: A Conversation About Maths, Power, and Inclusion”: https://hermathsstory.eu/reflecting-on-counted-out-a-conversation-about-maths-power-and-inclusion/Photo by Giulia Bertelli on Unsplash