Build the idea in three steps
- A positive integer is one of 1, 2, 3, … . Zero is not positive.
- aⁿ multiplies a by itself n times. For example, 2³ = 2 × 2 × 2 = 8.
- FLT uses one exponent n for all three numbers and requires n ≥ 3. A successful example with exponent two does not violate it.
A small example
3² + 4² = 9 + 16 = 25 = 5². The condition 3 ≤ n excludes this example.