Physicist's proof of Fermat's theorem of primes

H. Gutfreund; W. A. Little

doi:10.1119/1.12858

Physicist's proof of Fermat's theorem of primes

H. Gutfreund
, W. A. Little

Racah Institute of Physics

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

6 Scopus citations

Abstract

The prime numbers play a central role in the theory of numbers. We show that Fermat's theorem on primes may be proved using symmetry properties of Ising-spin configurations; and that similarly this may be extended to certain composite numbers. Our method of proof suggests a “physical” interpretation of the primes.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	219-220
Number of pages	2
Journal	American Journal of Physics
Volume	50
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1119/1.12858
State	Published - Mar 1982

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10.1119/1.12858

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Physicist's proof of Fermat's theorem of primes

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