Arithmetica

The Arithmetica in the Rome manuscript written in 1296, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana , Vaticanus graecus 191, fol. 388v

Cover of the 1621 edition with a Latin translation by Claude Gaspard Bachet de Méziriac

The arithmetic is a mathematical work written in the third century AD by the Greek mathematician Diophantus of Alexandria . It is believed that it originally consisted of 13 books. However, only six manuscripts ("books") in Greek and another four in Arabic translation have survived today. These ten books contain a collection of around 300 algebraic equations along with (ad hoc) methods for finding a solution to each of these equations. These equations are now called Diophantine equations . Most of the questions in arithmetic can be traced back to quadratic equations . These equations inspired Pierre de Fermat to come up with the Great Fermat's Theorem , which says that there is no solution for and . ${\displaystyle a^{n}+b^{n}=c^{n}}$ ${\displaystyle n\geq 3}$ ${\displaystyle a,b,c\in \mathbb {N} }$

Web links

Commons : Arithmetica (Diophantus)  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Remarks

1. ^ Titu Andreescu: Introduction to Diophantine Equations . Birkhäuser Boston, Cambridge, MA 2007, ISBN 978-0-8176-4548-9 , pp. vii ( online [PDF]).
2. ^ Carl B. Boyer: A History of Mathematics . Wiley, J, New York, NY 2010, ISBN 978-0-470-52548-7 ( online ).