Re: [HM] Frey curves in the work of Hurwitz

Franz Lemmermeyer (lemmerm@mpim-bonn.mpg.de)
Tue, 23 Mar 1999 15:53:38 +0100 (MET)

On Mon, 22 Mar 1999, Jim Propp wrote:

> What's the implicit quantifier on E here?

It has to be defined over Q, of course.

> Or did Velu show that if there exists even
> one elliptic curve with a rational point of order N then
> FLT is false for exponent N (with N a prime power 9 or up)?

Yes.

> Also, does Velu make it clear when he did his work? (One
> would imagine he proved this implication before he became
> aware of Mazur's work, but not necessarily before Mazur
> proved his theorem.)

The talk was given in February 1976; he does not cite
Mazur, but surely was aware of his results.

[..Hurwitz..]

>> More generally, he reduces x^my^n + y^mz^n + z^mx^n = 0
>> to FLT for N = m^2 - mn + n^2.

> What are the hypotheses on m and n here?

positive integers, not both even.

franz