释义 |
Fermat's Little TheoremIf is a Prime number and a Natural Number, then
 | (1) |
Furthermore, if ( does not divide ), then there exists some smallest exponent such that
 | (2) |
and divides . Hence,
 | (3) |
This is a generalization of the Chinese Hypothesis and a special case of Euler's Theorem. It issometimes called Fermat's Primality Test and is a Necessary but not Sufficient test forprimality. Although it was presumably proved (but suppressed) by Fermat, the first proof waspublished by Euler in 1749.
The theorem is easily proved using mathematical Induction. Suppose . Then examine
 | (4) |
From the Binomial Theorem,
 | (5) |
Rewriting,
 | (6) |
But divides the right side, so it also divides the left side. Combining with the induction hypothesis gives that divides the sum
 | (7) |
as assumed, so the hypothesis is true for any . The theorem is sometimes called Fermat's Simple Theorem.Wilson's Theorem follows as a Corollary of Fermat's Little Theorem.
Fermat's little theorem shows that, if is Prime, there does not exist a base with such that possesses a nonzero residue modulo . If such base exists, is therefore guaranteed to be composite.However, the lack of a nonzero residue in Fermat's little theorem does not guarantee that is Prime. The propertyof unambiguously certifying composite numbers while passing some Primes make Fermat's little theorem a CompositenessTest which is sometimes called the Fermat Compositeness Test. Composite Numbers known asFermat Pseudoprimes (or sometimes simply ``Pseudoprimes'') have zeroresidue for some s and so are not identified as composite. Worse still, there exist numbers known as CarmichaelNumbers (the smallest of which is 561) which give zero residue for any choice of the base Relatively Prime to . However, Fermat's Little Theorem Converse provides a criterion for certifying theprimality of a number.
A number satisfying Fermat's little theorem for some nontrivial base and which is not known to be composite is called aProbable Prime. A table of the smallest Pseudoprimes for the first 100 bases follows(Sloane's A007535).
 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | 2 | 341 | 22 | 69 | 42 | 205 | 62 | 63 | 82 | 91 | 3 | 91 | 23 | 33 | 43 | 77 | 63 | 341 | 83 | 105 | 4 | 15 | 24 | 25 | 44 | 45 | 64 | 65 | 84 | 85 | 5 | 124 | 25 | 28 | 45 | 76 | 65 | 133 | 85 | 129 | 6 | 35 | 26 | 27 | 46 | 133 | 66 | 91 | 86 | 87 | 7 | 25 | 27 | 65 | 47 | 65 | 67 | 85 | 87 | 91 | 8 | 9 | 28 | 87 | 48 | 49 | 68 | 69 | 88 | 91 | 9 | 28 | 29 | 35 | 49 | 66 | 69 | 85 | 89 | 99 | 10 | 33 | 30 | 49 | 50 | 51 | 70 | 169 | 90 | 91 | 11 | 15 | 31 | 49 | 51 | 65 | 71 | 105 | 91 | 115 | 12 | 65 | 32 | 33 | 52 | 85 | 72 | 85 | 92 | 93 | 13 | 21 | 33 | 85 | 53 | 65 | 73 | 111 | 93 | 301 | 14 | 15 | 34 | 35 | 54 | 55 | 74 | 75 | 94 | 95 | 15 | 341 | 35 | 51 | 55 | 63 | 75 | 91 | 95 | 141 | 16 | 51 | 36 | 91 | 56 | 57 | 76 | 77 | 96 | 133 | 17 | 45 | 37 | 45 | 57 | 65 | 77 | 95 | 97 | 105 | 18 | 25 | 38 | 39 | 58 | 95 | 78 | 341 | 98 | 99 | 19 | 45 | 39 | 95 | 59 | 87 | 79 | 91 | 99 | 145 | 20 | 21 | 40 | 91 | 60 | 341 | 80 | 81 | 100 | 259 | 21 | 55 | 41 | 105 | 61 | 91 | 81 | 85 | | |
See also Binomial Theorem, Carmichael Number, Chinese Hypothesis, Composite Number,Compositeness Test, Euler's Theorem, Fermat's Little Theorem Converse, Fermat Pseudoprime,Modulo Multiplication Group,Pratt Certificate, Primality Test, Prime Number, Pseudoprime, Relatively Prime,Totient Function, Wieferich Prime, Wilson's Theorem, Witness References
Ball, W. W. R. and Coxeter, H. S. M. Mathematical Recreations and Essays, 13th ed. New York: Dover, p. 61, 1987.Conway, J. H. and Guy, R. K. The Book of Numbers. New York: Springer-Verlag, pp. 141-142, 1996. Courant, R. and Robbins, H. ``Fermat's Theorem.'' §2.2 in Supplement to Ch. 1 in What is Mathematics?: An Elementary Approach to Ideas and Methods, 2nd ed. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, pp. 37-38, 1996. Shanks, D. Solved and Unsolved Problems in Number Theory, 4th ed. New York: Chelsea, p. 20, 1993. Sloane, N. J. A. SequenceA007535/M5440in ``An On-Line Version of the Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences.''http://www.research.att.com/~njas/sequences/eisonline.html and Sloane, N. J. A. and Plouffe, S.The Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences. San Diego: Academic Press, 1995.
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