Sophie Germain’s Theorem

Benoît Ballenghien 📧

April 9, 2025

Abstract

Sophie Germain's theorem states that if $p$ is a prime number such that $2 p + 1$ is also prime (with $p$ then called a Sophie Germain prime), a weak version of Fermat’s Last Theorem (FLT) holds for the exponent $p$. That is, there exist no nontrivial integer solutions $x, y, z \in \mathbb{Z}$ to the equation $$x ^ p + y ^ p = z ^ p$$ such that $p$ divides neither $x$, $y$ nor $z$. After some preliminary results, mainly on sufficient criteria for FLT, we propose a formalization of the classical version of Sophie Germain's theorem as well as a variant involving the concept of auxiliary primes that generalizes Sophie Germain primes.

License

BSD License

Topics

Session Sophie_Germain