In number theory, the Fermat quotient of an integer a with respect to an odd prime p is defined as: or . This article is about the former. For the latter see p-derivation. The quotient is named after Pierre de Fermat. If the base a is coprime to the exponent p then Fermat's little theorem says that qp(a) will be an integer. If the base a is also a generator of the multiplicative group of integers modulo p, then qp(a) will be a cyclic number, and p will be a full reptend prime.