Pierre de Fermat and His Last Theorem Honored on Google Doodle

Pierre de Fermat and his Last Theorem were featured on Google Doodle Wednesday, in honor of his 410th birthday.

French lawyer and mathematician de Fermat became known for his last theorem, xⁿ + yⁿ ≠ zⁿ, which he discovered in 1637. The equation is featured on the main Google page written in chalk on a blackboard with a faint inscription of the word "Google" in the background. When a mouse rolls over the doodle, a message pops up reading, "I have discovered a truly marvelous proof of this theorem, which this doodle is too small to contain."

Pierre de Fermat's theorem, scrawled in the margin of Arithmetica, states that no three positive integers a, b, and c can satisfy the equation aⁿ + bⁿ = cⁿ for any integer value of n greater than two.

Last Theorem is notably the most famous theorem, dubbed the "most difficult math problem" by the Guinness Book of World Record.

It did not receive a successful proof for 350 years of error until British mathematician Andrew Wiles solved it in 1995, proving its claims true. The story surrounding Wiles' solution of Fermat's Last Theorem is written in a book entitled, "Fermat's Enigma: The Epic Quest to Solve the World's Greatest Mathematical Problem."

Google Doodle first surfaced in 2000, when a drawing replacing the Google logo first appeared on Bastille Day. After a pleasant response, Google decided to regularly include doodles, since it has made searching more fun and enjoyable. Wednesday's doodle featuring Pierre de Fermat celebrates what would be his 410th birthday.

Since, a team of web designers has been appointed to design and oversee the creation of Google Doodles, which have grown in popularity with over 300 doodles celebrating holidays, events and anniversaries. The team is comprised of Ryan Germick, Mike Dutton, Jennifer Hom and Sophia Foster-Dimino overseen by Marissa Mayer and Dennis Hwang.

In 2010, Google Doodle launched a competition called "Doodle 4 Google" for U.S. students in grades K-12 to create their own doodle "to encourage and celebrate the creativity of young people," according to the Google website. With a new theme every year, this year's theme was "What I'd like to do someday..." and was chosen by guest judges like Whoopi Goldberg and Michael Phelps. Partnering with the Whitney Museum of American Art and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the 2011 contest amassed more than 33,000 entries.