| The following is taken from _From Fermat to Minkowski: Lectures on the
| Theory of Numbers and Its Historical Development_ by Winfried Scharlau
| and Hans Opolka, Springer-Verlag 1985, page 13.
|
| <begin quote>
|
| To conclude this chapter, a few words about the so-called "Fermat's
| last theorem." Whether Fermat knew a proof or not has been the subject
| of many speculations. The truth seems obvious. Fermat made his famous
| remark in the margin of his private copy of Bachet's edition of Diophantos
| in 1637 (next to the problem of ... ).
I might be wrong. But, as far as I recall, it is not so *obvious* that
Fermat made his famous remark in the margin of his private copy of
Bachet's edition of Diophantos in *1637*. This date is what most authors
uncritically repeat, but what is the *basis* for such exact date? Thanks.
Julio Gonzalez Cabillon