The story
Named after French lawyer and amateur mathematician Pierre de Fermat (1601–1665), who stated a version of the theorem in a letter in 1640. Called little to distinguish it from Fermat's Last Theorem.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Fermat's little theorem
Today it means: The theorem that, for any prime number p and integer a, aᵖ-a is an integer multiple of p. Full definition →