138-161 Circa - Diophantos of Alexandria - 00

DIOPHANTOS OF ALEXANDRIA.
Honlion
C. J.
CLAY
and SOX,
CAMBEIDGE UNIVERSITY TRESS WAREHOUSE, AVE

:^rARIA
LANE.
CAMBRIDGE:
I>i:i(;ilToN.
r.
lil'.l.l..
.\M> co.
LEIPZIG:
A.
liKocKllArs.
DIOPHANTOS OF ALEXANDRIA
A STUDY
IN
THE lIISToUV
OF
GREEK ALGEBRA
BY
T. L.
-ClJUilM
HEATH,
B.A.
SCHOLAR OF TRINITY
COI.LKCiK, CAMHRIlxiK.
EDITED FOR THE SYNDJC&^^^^XH^ UNIVEPiSITY -^-V3 ^-'-- 3^"\S>.
PliESS.
((UHIVEP.'ITY
QTambriligc
AT THE UNIVERSITY
1885
PKK.SS.
[All Ei'jhts A'.^.Tc;./.]
CTambritigr
rniNTF.ri
dy
c.
j.
clay, m.a. and sox,
AT THK rXIVERSITY PRKSS.
PREFACE.
The
the
scope of the
title
prosont book
is
sufficiently indicatod
Ity
and
the
Table of
Contents.
definitions"
to
In
the
chapter on
suggestions
to
" Dioijhantos'
notation
I
and
several
are made, which

origin
believe
be new, with regard
the
and
significance of the symbols
employed by Diophantos.
few words
may be
is
necessary to explain the purp(.se of the
Appendix.
This
the result of the compression of a large

to
book into a very small space, and claims

pendent value apart from the rest of
tended,
first,
have no indeIt
is
my
work.
in-
as a convenient
place of reference for mathe-
maticians
who may,
feel
after reading the account of Diophantos'
methods,
a desire to see them in actual operation, and,

exhibit
secondly, to
the several instances of that variety of

is
peculiar devices which

characteristics of the
one of the most prominent of the

algebraist, but
Greek
which cannot
in
l)o
brought under general rules and tabulated

as the processes described in
is
the
same way
Chapter V.
a necessary part of the whole, in that there
The Appendix, then, is much in

;
Diophantos which could not be introduced elsewhere

not,
it
must
however, be considered as in any sense an alternative to
the rest of the
book: indeed, owing

could
to
its
extremely conitself,
I
densed form,
hardly hope
that,
by
it
would
merely
of
even be comprehensible to the mathematician.
will
add that
H. D.
have twice carefully worked out the
.;<.lution
VI
PREFACE.
tlic
every problem from

lieve that
proof-sheets, so that I hope and
be-
no mistakes
will
be found to have escaped me.

details
It
would be mere tautology to enter into further
here.
One remark, however,

profess
to,
as to
what the work does
not,
and does not
include
may
not be out of place.
No
treatment of Diophantos could be complete without a

text.
thorough revision of the

inspected one MS. of
I have, however, only cursorily
my
author, that in the Bodleian Library,
which unfortunately contains no more than a small part of

the
first
of the six Books.

I regret that I
The
this
best Mss, are in Paris and
Rome, and
have had as yet no opportunity of would be a serious drawback
consulting them.
Though
text,
were I editing the

exposition
of
no
collation of MSS. could afifect
my
Diophantos' methods, or the solutions of his

it is
problems, to any appreciable extent; and, further,
more
than doubtful, in view of the unsatisfactory results of the

collation of three
of the MSS,
by three
different scholars in
the case of one, and that the most important, of the few obscure passages which need to be cleared up, whether the text
in these places could ever be certainly settled.
I should
be ungrateful indeed
if I
did not gladly embrace
this opportunity of
acknowledging the encouragement which
I have received from
Mr
J.
W,
L. Glaisher, Fellow
and Tutor
of Trinity College, to whose prospective interest in the
work
was
before
it
was begun, and unvarying kindness while
it
proceeding, I can
now
thankfully look back as having been
in a great degree the "

finally, I
moving cause
"
of the whole.
And,
wish to thank the Syndics of the University Press
for their liberality in
undertaking to publish the volume.

T. L.
HEATH.
11 May, 1885.
LIST
OF BOOKS OH
PAl'KKS
KKAD
()I{
KKKKlMtKI)
'K
>.
SO FAR AS THEY CON'CERN OK AUK ISKFIL
TO THE SUBJECT.
1.
Bookg
directlif
upon Dinphautois.
Xylander,
Diopliaiiti
Alexambini Reruni Arithmetit-arum Libri sex
Item Liber de Numcri.s Polygonis. Opus incoiupiirabile Latino redditum et Commeutariis explanatum Biusileae, 1575. Bachet, Diophanti Alexandrini Arithmeticoioim Libri sex, et de niuueri.s
multaugulis liber
unus.
uiiu.s.
Lutetiae Parisiorimi, 1G21.

libri sex, et
Diophanti AJexandi-ini Ai-ithmeticorum

lis liber
Cum
de uumeris multaugucommeutariis C. G. Bacheti V.C. et oWruaSenatoris Tolcsani.

Tolosae, 1G70.
tionibus D. P. de
Fermat
ScHULZ, Diophantus von Alexandria arithmetische Aufgaben nebst desseu

Schrift liber die Polygon-zahlen.
Aus dem
iiber
Griecbi-scheu iibersetzt
Berlin, 18-22. die
und mit Anmerkungeu

PoSELGER,
begleitet.
Diophantus von Uebersetzt, mit Zusiitzen. Crivelli, Elementi di Fisica

P.
Alexandrien
Polygon-Zahlen.
Leipzig, 1810.
ed
Problemi aritlmietici
di
Diofanto
Alessandrino analiticamente dimostrati.
In Venczia, 1744.
Glimstedt, Forsta Boken af Diophanti Arithmetica algebraisk OcfvcrLund, 1855. sattning. Stevin and Girard, " Translation " in Les Oeuvres mathematiques de
Simon
Stevin.
Leyde, 1684.
2.
M'orha indirectly fluridati)i<j Diftj'lnmtitg.
BoMBELLi, L' Algebra diuisa in tre Libri F'ermat, Opera Varia mathematica. Brassinne, Precis des Oeuvres mathematicpies de metique de Diophante.
CossALi, Origine, traspoi-to in
Storia critica
Bologna, 1579.
Tolixsai', H;7l>.
P. Fcrnuit et
de
I'Aritljl''*-'>3-
P'""is
in e-ssa dell'
Italia, prinii progre.s.si
Algebni
Nesselmanx, Die Algebra der Griechcn. John Kersey, Elements of Algebra.
Parnm, 17U7. Berlin, IM2.

London, 1674.
Ox.iiittC, 161)5
Walms, Algebra
(in
Opera Mathematica.
9
>"''
Saundek.son, N., Elements of Algebra.
Vlll
LIST OF AUTIlulUTIKS.
3.
Buuks
ic/tich iiifiitivii
or
(/ice
infurmation about Dio^laiiUof,

of mathematics.
including
historiiis
CuLEUHOOKE, AlgeVira with Arithmetic and ^Mensuration from the Sanscrit London, 1817. of Brahmaguptii and Bhiiscara.
SriDAs, Lexicon
(ed.
G. Bernhardy).
Ilalis et Brunsvigae, 1853.
Fabricii.s, Bibliotheca Graeca (ed. Harless).
AuCLEARAJ, History of the Dynasties

Ch. Th.
v.
(tr.
Pococke).
Oxon. 16C3.
Murr, Memorabilia Bibliothecarum publicarum Norimbergen-
Norimbergae, 1786. sium et Universitatis Altdorfinae. DoPPELMAYR, Historische Nachricht von den Xiirnbergischen Mathema(Nliruberg, 1730.) ticis und Kiinstlern.
Vos.siis,
De
universae mathesius natiira et coustitutione
Amstelaedami, 16G0.
Hkilbronneh, Historia matheseos universae. MuNTLCLA, Histoire des Math(5matiques.

IviAEUEL, Matheniatisches "\Vorterl)uch.
Lipsiae, 1742.
Paris,
An
7.
Leipzig, 1830.
Giittingen, 1796.
Kaestner, Geschiclite der Matheniatik.
Paris, 1810. BussuT, Histoire G(5uerale des Mathematiques. Hankel, Zur Geschichte der Mathematik in Altertlium und Mittelalter.
Leipzig, 1874.
Cantor, Vorlesungen Uber Geschichte der Mathematik, Band L

Leipzig, 1880.
Dr Heinrich Slter, Gesch.

Jame.s
d.
:^Lathematischen Wisseuschaften,
Zurich, 1873.
Gow,
short History of Greek Mathematics.
Camb. Univ.
Press, 1884.
4.
Papers or Pamphlets read in connection with Diophantos.

Beitriige zur
Poselger,
Unbestimmten Analysis.
les
I..
RoDET, L'Algebre d'Al-Kharizmi et

{Journal
AHiatitjite,
(Berlin xihhandhmgen, 1832.'i methodes indienne et grecque.
Janvier, 1878.)
WoEPCKE, Extrait du Faklni,
traitc^ d'Algebrc par Abou Bekr ^[ohammed ben Alhayan Alkarkhi, precede d'un memoiresurralgebre indeterminet; chez los Arabes. Paris, 1853
WoEi'CKE, Mathematiques chez
les
1.
Orientaux.
Journal Asiatique, Fdvrier-Mars, 1855. 2. Journal Asiatique, Avril, 1855.

{Bulletin des iSciences
I'.
Tanxehv, "A
Mat/ufm.
ct
<iuelque epocpie vivait Dioi)hante /"
Astronom. 1879.)
I'.
Tax.nery, L'Arithm(5ti(iue dans Pajtpus
lIusEN, Tiie Algel>ra of

1Ii:ii>er<;,
.Mohammed ben Musa.
{Bordeaux Memoirs, 1880.) London, 1831.

llauniae, 1879.
Quacstiones Archimedeae.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER
I.
HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION'.
1.
Diophantos'
name and
particulars of his
life
....
PAGES
i
2.
His date.
() {b)
Different views
Internal evidence considered
4_S
8
External evidence
IG
3.
Results of the preceding investigation
1617
CHAPTER
;
II.
THEIR TITLES AND GENERAL THE WORKS OF DIOPHANTOS CONTENTS; THE PORTIONS WHICH SURVIVE.
1.
Titles
no
real evidence that 13

title
books of
Aritliiiietics
ever existed IS
corresponding to the
23
"iC,
No
from Arabia. Corruption must have taken place before 11th cent, and probably before 950 A.D
portion of the Arithmetics
is lost? The contents of the The Polygonal Numbers and Porism.i may have
trace of lost books to be restored
23
Poiisms lost before 10th cent. a.d.

2.
2<)
What
lost books.
formed part of the complete ArithmcticK.

theory
Objections to this
Other views
Conclusion
of the contents of thf lost
Books
....
),s.
2(> 3.">
3J
37
37
CHAPTER
THE WlllTEKS UPON
1. 2.
3.
III.
JlolMIA.\ T
(heck
Arabian
38-39
39
12
European gencially
42
5('>
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER
\OT.\TI(N
1.
2.
3.
IV.
(F
AND DEFINITIONS
DlOPH.\NTOS.
VAC.KS
,57
Introduction
Sign for the unknown quantity discubsed Notation for powers of the unknown
Objection that Diophantos loses generality by the want of more algebraic symbols answered
57
67
69
G7 09
i.
5.
Other questions of notation operations, fractions, dc. General remarks on the historical development of algebraic
:
6976
7680 8082
notation
6.
three stages exhibited

.
.
Ou
the influence of Diophantos' notation on his work
CHAPTER
V.
diophantos' METHODS OF SOLUTION.

1.
General remarks.
Criticism of the positions of Hankcl and
Ncsselmann
Diophantos' treatment of equations
(A)
.....
88114
Determinate equations of different degrees.

(1)
(2)
Pure equations of different degrees, i.e. equations con taining only one power of tlie unknown Mixed quadratics
Cubic equation
88-
(3)
(li)
.......
first
Indeterminate equations.
'..
Indeterminate equations of the

(1)
and second
degrees.
Single equation (second degree)

1.
2.
Those which can always be rationally solved Those which can be rationally solved only under certain conditions
(2)
Double equations.
1.
First general
method
(first
degree)
.
2.
II,
Second method (first degree) Double equation of the second
degrei
Indeterminate equations of liigher degrees.

(1)
Single ecjuations
,,
(first class)
(second class)
.
(2)
Double equations
3.
Summary
of the prerediiiji incestiijntioii
SI.
Transition
Mitiiod of limits
..... ....
.
Method
of appro.\imation to limits
CONTKNTS.
CHAPTER
1.
VI.
PAOEH
121
I2.'i
The PonsHis
('/)
of Diophantos
2.
Other theorems assumed or implied

(h)
(c)
12.> 132
Numbers Numbers Numbers
as the
as the
as the
sum sum sum
of two squares
of three squares
127 1:<0
l:{0
l:{l
of four squares
131 1H2
CHAPTER
VII.
HOW FAR WAS DIOPHANTOS

1.
2. 3.
Preliminary
ORIGINAL?
Diophantos' algebra not derived from Arabia

Reference to Hypsikles
....
.
.
133134 134135
13.")
130
138
4.
5.
6.
The evidence
of his language
13G 138
Wallis' theory of Greek Algebra
Comparison of Diophantos with his Greek predecessors

Discussion in this connection of the Cattle-prohlem
.
139142
142
7.
.
147
CHAPTER
VIII.
DIOPHANTOS AND THE EARLY ARABIAN ALGEBRAISTS.

1. 2. 3. 4.
5.
Preliminary
14S
Comparison of Diophantos with Diophantos and Abu'1-Wafa
Mohammed
ibn Musfi
149- -155
155
155- -156
An anonymous Arabic ms. Abu Ja'far Mohammed ibn

Alkarkhi
Alhusain
156-
156
G.
APPENDIX.
EREATUM.
On
p. 78, last line
but one of note, for " Targalia" read "Tartaglia"
CHAPTER
I.
Historical Introduction.
The doubts about lîophantos begin, as has been 1. remarked by Cossali^ with his very name. It cannot be positively decided whether his name was Diophanfos or Diophanês.
The preponderance, however,
of authority
is
in favour of the
view that he was called Diophantos.
The title of the work which has come down to us under (1) name gives us no clue. It is Aiocpdvrov 'A\âvBpQ}<i 'AptOfj,rjTLKwv î/SXia ly. Now Atocjjdvrov may be the Genitive of
his
either Ai6(f)avTo<i or A,io^dvrr]<;.

title
We
learn liowever from this
that he lived at Alexandria,
(2)
In Suidas under the
article "TiraTia the

is
name
occurs
;
in
the Accusative and in old editions
given as Aio<f)dvTr}v
but Bachet'^ in the Preface to his edition of Diophantos assures Besides this, us that two excellent Paris MSS. have Aioâvrov.
Suidas has a separate article
over Fabricius
At6(})avTo<i, ovofia Kvpiov.
More-
mentions several persons of the same name It is Ai6<f)avTo<;, but the name /lio(f)dvTr]<i nowhere occurs. on this ground probable that the correct form is AiotpavTo^. We may compare it with "EK<f)avTo<;, but we cannot go so far
is
as to say, with Bachet, that Aio<f)dvT'r]^
not Greek
for
we
have the analogous forms

1
'lepot^dvrrjt;, o-vK0(f)dvTr]<;.
coniincia la divcisitii tni gli scrittori " (p. 61). male habori, <j Ato-
"Su
'-Ubi
la
desinenza del
nome
moueudus
es imprimis, in editis Suidae libris
in (pavT-qv, ut ex duobus probatissimis codicibus manu exaratis (lui extant Bibliotheca Regia, depraehendi, qui veram exhibcut Icctionem d% Awâyrof."
H. D.
2
(3)
DIOPIIAXTOS OF ALEXANDRIA.
In
the
only quotation
(fl.
from Diophantos which we
know
(4)
Tlioon of Alexandria
3G5
390
A.D.)
speaks of him
as At6<f)avTo<i.
On
the other hand Abu'lfaraj, the Arabian historian,
History of the Dynasties, is thought to be an authority for the form Diophanfcs, and certainly in his Latin translation of the
in his
two passages
in
which D.
vowel
is
mentioned by Abu'lfaraj, Pococke

first
writes Diophantes.
in the original the
But, while in the

is
of the
two passages
doubtful, in the second the

Abu'lfaraj
is
name
is
certainly Diophantos.
for the
(5)
Hence
really an authority
form Diophantos.
Of more modern
Aio(f)dvT7]<;.
writers,
Rafael
Bombelli
in
his
Algebra, published 1572, writes in Italian "Diofanie" corre-
sponding to
Diophan^ws.
But Joannes Regiomontanus, Joachim

all
Camerarius, James Peletarius, Xylander and Bachet
write
Diophanios was the Far more perplexing than the doubt as to his name is the question of the time at which he lived. As no certainty can even now be said to have been reached on this point, it will be necessary to enumerate the indications which
safely conclude, then, that
We may
name
of our author.
bear on the question.

only facts which are
Before proceeding to consider in order

it
the internal and external evidence,
will
be well to give the
known
of his personal history, and which
can be gathered from an arithmetical epigram upon Diophantos.
This epigram, the probable date of which

follows
it
will
its
be necessary to
is
consider later along with the question of

:
authorship,
as
Ovt6<; tol ^t6(f>avToi>
e'êt
rd(f)o<;,
/jiiya
Oavfia,
Kal
T</)09 K Teî/779 fierpa
^10 to
\i<yL.
"Ektt]v Kovpiêiv ^toTou êo? cutraae

AoyBeKUTrj
Tfj
8'
fioipijv,
S"
iTriOeU firjXa Tropev '^(Xodetv.

i'jyfraTO
ap'
e'</)'
e^BofuiTT} to yafirjXiov
<f>iyyo<;,
E/c 8e ydficov TrifMirrcp TralS' iirev^vaev eret.
At ai r7]\vyTov BetXov Te09,
VjfXLav irarpo^,
Tov
Iler'ô?
8e
3'
Kal
7;
Kpvepo^ fierpov eXoov îotov.

Trapijyopecov eviavTOL<i
eTreprja-e /3iOV.
av
iriavpecro'L
ao(piT)
Tj]8e TToaov
repfx
HISTORICAL IXTUODUCTIOX.
The
solution of this
at Avhich Diophautos died.
epigram-problem gives 84 as the age His boyhood lasted 14 years, his

33/;
beard grew at 21, he married at
a son was born to him
5 years later and died at the age of 42,
when
his father
was
80 years
old.
Diophanto.s'
own death
followed 4 years later
at the age of 84. Diophantos having lived to so great an age, an approximate date is all that we can expect to find for the production of his works, as we have no means of judging at what time of life he would be likely to write his
Aiithmetics.
The most important statements upon the date of 2. Diophantos which we possess are the following
(1)
Abu'lfaraj,
whom
Cossali calls "the courageous compiler
of a universal history from
Adam
to the 13th century," in his
History of the Dynasties before mentioned, places Diophantos, without giving any reason, under the Emperor Julian (3G1
368
It
is
A.D.).
This
is
the view which has been ordinarily held.
that of Montucla.
(2)
We
find in the preface to Rafael Bombclli's Algebra,
published 1572, a dogmatic statement that Diophantos lived
under Antoninus Pius (138
161
A.D.).
This view too has
met with considerable

Billy,
favour, being adopted
by Jacobus de
Blancanus, Vossius, Heilbronner, and others.

identifies the
we may mention Bachet's conjecture, Diophantos of the Arithmetics with an astrologer of the same name, who is ridiculed in an epigram attributed to Lucilius whence Bachet concludes that he lived about the time of Nero (5468) (not under Tiberius,
Besides these views
which
The three views Nesselmann supposes Bachet to say). here mentioned will be discussed later in detail, as they are all worthy of consideration. The same cannot be said of a
as
number
later
of other theories on the subject, of which I will quote
only one as an example.
Simon Stevin*
algebraist
places
Diophantos
ibn
than
the
Arabian
Mohammed
Miisa
Les Oeuvrcs Mathcin. de Sim. Stevin, augm. par Alh. Girard, Loyden, 1634, h, Diophant, il semblc iiu'cn son temps los inventions de Mahomet ayent seulement tsto cognues, commc bo poult colligcr de sea six premiers
1
"Quant
livres."
12
Al-Kliarizmi
who
lived in the first half of the 9th century, the
absurdity of which view will appear.
We
must now consider
in detail the
(a)
Internal evidence of the date of Diophantos.
(1)
It
would be natural to hope to

is
find,
under this head,
references to the works of earlier or contemporary

ticians.
mathemafragment
Unfortunately there
only one such reference traceIt occurs in the
able in Diophantos' extant writings.
upon Polygonal Numbers, and is a reference to a definition given by a certain Hypsikies\ Thus, if we knew the date of Hypsikles, it would enable us to fix with certainty an upper It is limit, before which Diophantos could not have lived.
particularly unfortunate that
we cannot determine
accurately
what time Hypsikles himself lived. Now to Hypsikles is attributed the work on Regular Solids which forms Books In the XIV. and xv, of the Greek text of Euclid's Elements. introduction to this work the author relates'^ that his father
at
knew a
treatise of Apollonius only in

it
an incorrect form, whereas
he himself afterwards found

his time.
correctly
book of ApoUonios, which was
easily accessible
worked out in another anywhere in

Hypsikles'
From
this
we may with justice conclude that
father was an elder contemporary of ApoUonios, and
died before the corrected version of
must have ApoUonios' treatise was

is
given to the world.

friend
Hypsikles' work itself
dedicated to a
of his father's, Protarchos by name.

it
Now
ApoUonios
died about 200 B.C.; hence

'
follows that Hypsikles' treatise
Polyg. Numbers, prop.
8.
"Kal iirtdelxOri t6 waph. 'typiKkeX iv

'^
8p(p Xeyd/J-evov.^'
<Tvvairob(ixOivTo% oZv koI tov 'TîacXôuj 8pov, k.t.X."
'
'
"Kal
TTOTf SteXoOfTfj (sc. Basileides of
Tyre and Hypsikles' father) rb
virb
AwoWuviov
TT)v
ypa<pû wepi
<j<paipav
ttjs
(TvyKplaems roO SwStKaiSpov Kal tov
tlKoffa^dpov tlov
(U
fMT]
Tjj/
avTj]v
iyypa<{>onivuv, rlva \oyov ixî vpbs dWijXa, fSoâf raOra

aCrrol
dpOQi ytypaipivai rbv 'ArroWwi/iof.

iKoveiv TOV naTpos.
di
ravra SiaKaddpavres
i"r6
'
fypa\j/av
wj
^yCo Si vartpov irtpUtreaov iTlpi^ /3t/JA/v

ijyiwi (?) irepl tov
AiroWuvlov
(oiKf
iKbfhotxivtfi, Kal
TTtpUxovTi anobuiiu
iirl
i/iroKfifj^vov.
'
Kal fieydXtji
i\J/vxaywyÔr)v
KOiff,
Ty
irpofiXi^fxaTos ^T-qati.
Tb
fj.iv
viro
AwoWwi'lov iKbodh
OKOirdv.
Kal
yap
irtpKpiptrai, k. t. X."
HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
on Regular Solids was probably written about 180 B.C. It was clearly a youthful productiou. Besides this we have another work of Hypsikles, of astronomical content, entitled in Greek dvaôpLK6<i. Now in this treatise we find for the first time the division of the circumference of a circle into 360 degrees, which Autolykos, an astronomer a short time anterior to Euclid, was not acquainted with, nor, apparently, Eratosthenes who died about 194 B.C. On the other hand Hypsikles used no trigonometrical methods these latter are to some extent employed by the astronomer Hipparchos, who made observations at Rhodes between the years 101 and 126. Thus the discovery
:
of trigonometrical
methods about 150 agrees well with the
conclusion arrived at on other grounds, that Hypsikles flourished
about 180
B.C.
We
must
not,
however, omit to notice that Nesselmann,
an authority always to be mentioned with respect, takes an

entirely different view.
He
concludes that we
may
with a
fair
approach to certainty place Hypsikles about the year 200 of our

but upon insufficient grounds. Of the two arguments used by Nesselmann in support of his view one is grounded upon the identification of an Isidores whom Hypsikles mentions' as his instructor with the Isidores of an article in Suidas:
era,
'lo-tSwpo? ^tXocro0O9 09
eiirep rt?
e^Ckocroâe
fiev
vtto TOt? dS\<f)oi<;,
dWo<i, iv fiaOrjfiaaLv:
and, further, upon a conjecture

called
of Fabricius
about
it.
Assuming that the two persons
two places are identical we have still to determine his date. The question to be answered is, what is the reference in viro roh dBX(j)oi<; ? Now Fabricius makes a conjecture, which seems hazardous, that the dBe\(f)ot are the brothers M. Aurelius Antoninus and L. Aurelius Verus, who were joint-Emperors from 160 to 169 A.D. This date being
Isidoros in the
assigned
to
Isidoros, it
A. d.
would follow that Hypsikles should
be placed about
200.
In the second place Nesselmann observes that according to
Diophantos Hypsikles
is
ing polygonal numbers which

'
the discoverer of a proposition respectwe find in a rather less perfect
Eucl. XV.
5.
"77 5^ evpejii, u$'l<xl5wpos 6 Ti/x^Tepos vip-nyqaaTo fi^yat 5i6dcK-
fiXos,
^x"
'0" 'poVoi/ TovTov,"
;
from this he form in Nikomachos and Theon of Smyrna argues that Hypsikles must have been later than both these mathematicians, adducing as further evidence that Theon (who
is
much given
lived
to quoting) does not quote him.

A.D., this
Doubtless, as
Theon
under Hadrian, about 130

but
it
is
would give a
date for Hypsikles which would agree with that drawn from
Fabricius' conjecture
;
not possible to regard either

if it wêre
piece of evidence as in any
way trustworthy, even
not contradicted by the evidence before adduced on the other

side.
fore
say then with certainty that Hypsikles, and therea fortiori Diophantos, cannot have written before 180 B.C!. The only other name mentioned in Diophantos' writings (2) This is that of a contemporary to whom they are dedicated. name, however, is Dionysios, which is of so common occurrence that we cannot derive any help from it whatever. Diophantos' work is so UTiique among the Greek trea(3)
tises
We may
which we possess,
tliat
he cannot be said to recal the style
or subject-matter of
any other author, except, indeed, in the fragment on Polygonal Numbers ; and even there the reference
to Hypsikles
is
the only indication
we can
lay hold
of.
which forms the last question of the 5th book of Diophantos, has been used in a way which is rather
Tiie epigram-problem,
means of determining the date of the Arithmetics, by M. Paul Tannery \ The enunciation of this problem, which
curious, as a
is
different from all the rest in that (a)

(6)
it
it is
in the
form of an
epigram,
introduces numbers in the concrete, as applied
to things, instead of abstract
numbers (with which alone

is
all
the other problems of Diophantos are concerned),
doubtless
borrowed by him from some other source. It is a question about wine of two different qualities at the price respectively of
8 and 5 drachmae the

inferior quality as
it
%o{;9. It appears also that it was wine of was mixed by some one as drink for his Now M. Tannery argues (a) tliat the numbers 8 and servants. 5 were not hit upon to suit the metre, for, as these are the only
numbers which occur

*
in the epigram,
and both are found
in
lUilh'tin (ten Sciences mathnnntiqiiis et astronomif/ucs, 1879, p. 201.
HISTORICAL INTRODrCTION.
the same
fiov<i,
compounds 6KTa8pd^^fôv<: and irein-eSpdxsome other numerals would serve the purposes of metre
line in the
(b)
Neither were they taken in view of the solunumber of ;^6e? which it was required to find are found to contain fractions. Hence (c) the basis on which the author composed his problem must have
equally well,
tion of the problem, for each
been the price of wines at the time.

it is
Now, says M. Tannery*, evident that the prices mentioned for wines of poor quality
But wine was not dear until after tlie time Therefore the composer of the epi^-am, and
also, is later
are famine prices.

of the Antonines.
hence Diophantos
than the period of the Antonines.

does no more than give
This argument, even

us a later date than
if it is correct,
we
before arrived at as the upper limit.
Nor can M. Tannery
consistently assert that this determination

;
necessarily brings us at all near to the date of Diophantos
for
in another place he maintains that Diophantos was no original
genius, but a learned mathematician
problems previously known
thus,
if
so
who made a much had
collection of
already been
done
in the
domain which
is
represented for us exclusively by
Diophantos, the composer of the epigram in question
have lived a considerable time before Diojihantos.
It
may well may be
mentioned here,
also,
that one of the examples which M. Tanto,
nery quotes as an evidence that problems similar
and even
more
difficult than,
those of Diophantos were in vogue before
his time, is the
commonly
problem
is
called
famous Problem of the Cattle, which has been by the name of Archimedes and this very fatal to the theory that arithmetical epigrams must
;
These considerations, however, ftict. though proving M. Tannery to be inconsistent, do not necessarily preclude the possibility that the inference he draws from
necessarily be founded on
the epigram-problem solved by Diophantos

date of the Cattle-problem itself
later
is
is correct, for (a)
the
not known, and
may be
even than Diophantos, (6) it does not follow that, if M. Tannery's conclusion cannot be proved to be necessarily right, it must therefore be wrong.
1
choisis en vue de la solution:
"II est d'ailleurs facile de se rendre comptc que ccs prix n'ont pas 6t6 on doit done supposcr qu'ils sent rt-els. Or ce
los
sent evideininent, pour
vius de basse quality, do prix de famine."
DIOPHAXTOS OF ALEXANDRIA.
On
we
the vexed question as to
how
far
Diophantos was original
shall
have to speak
later.
Wo
(b)
pass
now
to a consideration of the
External evidence as
to
the date of Diophantos.
(1
We
have
first to
consider the testimony of a passage of

of by writers on the ques-
Suidas, which has been
made much
tion of Diophantos, to an extent entirely disproportionate to its

intrinsic importance.
As however
it
does not bear solely upon

it
the question of date, but upon another question also,
cannot
be here passed over.

'TTTartaV
The passage
in question is Suidas' article
The words which concern us apparently
stood in
the earliest texts thus, eypay^rev vTro/xvrj/jLa et? Aiocfxivrrjv
Tov darpovofiiKov. Kavova et<? to. KOiVLKa' ÂiroWcovlov viro/jiVTjfia. With respect to the reading A.io(f)dvr'}]v, we have already remarked that Bachet asserts that two good Paris MSS.
have
TOV
A.i6(f>avTov.
The words
as found in the text cannot be right.
Aiocfjdvrrjv
da-TpovofiiKov
should
(if
the punctuation were
right)
be
Aio(f>dvTr)v TOV d(TTpov6ôv, the
former not being Greek.
Ku.ster's
conjecture
'^
is
that
we should read
et?
to,
vTrofivrjfia
^
ek
Aio(f)dvTov da-TpovofjLLKov Kavova'

vTToiJ.vnp.a.
KwviKa
AttoWojvlov
If this is right the
Diophantos here mentioned must
have been an astronomer.

is
In that case the person in question

for
not our Diophantos at
all,
we have no ground whatever

It
is
to
imagine that he occupied himself with Astronomy.

tain that he was
cer-
famous only as an arithmetician.

life
of Jerusalem in his
some
'
one's skill in
Thus John John of Damascus^ in speaking of Arithmetic compares him to Pythagoras and
of
'
tiraTla
rj
O^wvos tov TtufUTpov Ovyarrip tov A\fâvSp^wi <pi\oa6ôv xal
avTr]
<f)iK6(To<poi,
KoX
woWoh
yvwpifioi'
yvvr] 'IcridiJopov tov <t>i.\oao<pov

\io<p(xvTr)v
iJKnaafv
iirl
t^s
PaaiXdai 'ApKailoV (ypayptv vir6fu/r)na th Ta KuviKa' AiroWwvlov v-ir6fj.injfia.

'
tov dtXTpovopuKov.
Kaxoi'a
eh
' 3
Suidae Lexicon, Cantabiigiac, 1705. Chapter

xi.
of the Life as Kiven in Sancti patris
iiostri
Joannis Damasceni,
Monaclii, et rreshyteri Ilierusulymitani, Opera omnia quae exstant ft ejus nomine
circumferuntur.
Tonms primus.
Parisiis, 1712.
t}
'AvaXoyla^ di'ApidfxrjTiKii ovtu^
i^rfaKr/Kacif ti'ûwr, wi
UvOayopai
Ai6(pavToi,
Diophantos, as representing that science.
the same name,
f)
However, Baclict
has proposed to identify our Diophantos with an astrologer of
who
is
ridiculed in an epigram' supposed to he
written by Lucilius.
Now
the ridicule of the epigram would
be clearly out of place as applied to the subject of the epigram mentioned above, even supposing that Lucilius' ridiculous
hero
is
not a fictitious personage, as
it
is
not unreasonable to
suppose.
Bachet's reading of the passage

t6i>
fia'^.
is vTro/ivrjfia
eh
AioâfToz/,
vTro^vr,-
darpovofiLKOv Kavova, etf ra koovlku
AttoWcoviov
it
He
then proceeds to remark that

as well as
shows that Hypatia
wrote a Canon Astronomicus, so that she evidently was versed

in
Astronomy
Geometry
(as
shown by the Commenthat she was
tary on Apollonios), two of the three important branches of
Mathematics.
It
is
likely then, argues Bachet,
acquainted with the third. Arithmetic, and wrote a commentary
on the AritJtmetics of Diophantos.
But
in the first place
we
know
it
of no astronomical
work
after that of Claudius Ptolemy,
and from the way in which 6 da-rpovoîLKO'; Kavwv is mentioned would be necessary to suppose that it had been universally known, and was still in common use at the time of Suidas, and yet was never mentioned by any one else whom we knjULUUi
inexplicable hypothesis.
'
'ISipixoyivt)
Tov larpov 6 affrpoXoyoi Ai6<f>ai'T(X
Eln-e /xovovi ^wfjs ivvia pLrjvas ^X^'"-
KcLKeivos ycXdaai,
Ti
(TV
/jl(v
KpSvos
ivvia. /xrjvwy,
^qal, \^yL,
voef Ta/xa 5i
Tjxj/aro'
ci'inofxa.
aoc
Elwe Kal ^KTslvas fwvov
Kal AiO(pain-os
'AWov
dve\iriû)v, avrbs
awf (TKapKrev.
turn in
niccli-
"Ludit non innenustus poeta turn
in
Diopbantum AstroloRum,
cum Hermogenera, quem

attactu
et alibi saepe false
admodum
perstringit, qniVl solo
non aegros modo, sed et ben(^ valentes, velut pestifero sidere afflntoa Itaque nisi Diopbantum nostrum Astrologiae iieritum fuissc negemus, nil prohibet, quo minus eum aetate Lucillij extitisse dicanius."
repente necaret.
Bacbet,
-
Ad
Urtorrm.
From
tbis reading
it
is
clear that Bachet did not rest his view of the
identity of our Diophantos with the astrologer
upon the
i)as8age of Suidas.
M. Tannery
is
therefore mistaken in supposing this to be the case, "Bachet,
ayant lu dans Suidas qu'Hy^mtia avait commentu le notre auteur..."; that is precisely what Bacbet did rmt read
Canon astronomique d
there.
10
Next, the expression ek Aioâvrov has been objected to by as not being Greek. He maintains that the Greeks
its
Nesselmann
never speak of a book by the name of
author, and therefore

if
we ought
to
to
have Atocfxivrov dpidfiijTiKa,
the reference were
M. Tannery, however, defends the use of the expression, on the ground that similar M. Tannery, ones are common enough in Byzantine Greek.
Diophantos of the Arithmetics.
accordingly, to avoid the difficulties which
we have mentioned,
supposes some words to have dropped out after ^loâvrov, and

thinks that
Kavova.
et9
we should read
et? At6<f)avTov . . .rov aa-rpovofiiKov
ra KwviKa WiroWcoviov virofivrjixa, suggesting that before tov acrrpovoiiiKov Kavova we might supply et? and understand TlroXeîaiov.
It will
be seen that
it is
impossible to lay any stress upon
this passage of Suidas.
We
cannot even make sure from this

it
that Hypatia wrote a
commentary upon Diophantos, though
has been very generally asserted by historians of mathematics
even by Cossali, who in speaking of the which the text of Diophantos has fallen remarks that Hypatia was the most fortunate of the commenas an
undoubted
state
fact,
corrupt
into
tators
(2)
who have
I
ever addressed themselves to his writings.

facts we know of Diowe only knew the exact date of the author of
have already mentioned the epigram which in the

If
form of a problem gives us the only

phantos'
this
life.
epigram, our difficulties would be

to Metrodoros,
much
lessened.
It is
commonly assigned
but even then we are not
sure whether Metrodoros of Skepsis or Metrodoros of Byzan-
tium is meant. It is now generally supposed that the latter was the author and of him we know that he was a grammarian and arithmetician who lived in the reign of Constantine
;
the Great.
(8)
It
is
satisfactory in the midst of so

to
much
in a
uncertainty to
find a
most certain reference
Diophantos
work by Theon
of Alexandria, the fatherof Hypatia,

for the date,
which gives us a loiuer limit more approximate than we could possibly have
derived ironx the article of Suidas.

Diopiiantos was
'
The
Book
ftict
that
;
Theon quoted
"
first
noted by Peter Ramus*

i,
Diophantus,
Schold Mathnntitirii,
p. Su.
cujus sex libros,
\\
cum tamcn author
graecos
habemus de
ipso tredccim poUiceatur, arithmcticis admirandac subtilitatis artcm

:
quae vulgo Algebra arabico nomine appellatur cum (citatur enim a Theone) antiquitas artis appareat. Scripserat et Diophantus harmonica." This quotation was known to Montucla, who however draws an absurd conchision from it* which is repeated by Klucrel in his
coniplexis,
tamen ex authore hoc antique
Worterbuchl
The words
(f)r](riv
of
Theon which
rf]<;
refer to Diopliantos
(iixeraderov
elSo'i
ova-T]<:
are koI Ai6(})avT6<i
on,
fxovdSo'i
Kal earcoay]^ Trcivrore, to 7roWa7rXaaiaû/j,evov
eV
avTTjf
avTo TO ei8o9 earat.
We
have only to remark that these words
are identically those of Diophantos' sixth definition, as given in
Bachet's text, with the sole difference that iravTore stands in the place of the equivalent dei, in order to see that the refer-
ence
is
certain
is
beyond the
possibility of a doubt.
The name
of
again mentioned by Theon a few lines further on. Here then we undoubtedly have a lower limit to the time of
Diophantos
Diophantos, supplied by the date of Theon uf Alexandria, and one which must obviously be more approximate than we could have arrived at from any information about his daughter
Hypatia, however trustworthy. Theou's date, fortunately, we can
determine with accuracy.
Suidas^
tells
us that he was conI.
temporary with Pappos and lived in the reign of Theodosius
The statement that he was contemporary with Pappos

"Theon
une autre ouvrage de
is
almost
cite
cet analyste, oil
il
ctoit question dc la
pratique de I'arithm^tique.
Je soupv'onnerois que c'etoit la qu'il expliquoit plus

il
au long
les regies
de sa nouvelle arithnietique, sur quoi
ue
s'ctoit
pas assez
^tendu au commencement de ses questions."
Montucla,
d. reinen
Apparently translated word for word in Eosenthal's EncyclopUdie
Mathem.
I.
iii.
195.
177, under Arithmetik:
"Diophantus hab ausser seincm grossen

iiber die praktiscbe
arith-
metischen Werke aucb ein das aber verloren ist."
Werk
Arithmetik gescbriebcn,
in the 5th
To begin
with,
Montucla quotes the passage as occurring
Book of
Theon's Commentary, instead of the first. The work of Diophantos which Theon quotes is not another work, but is identically the Arithmeticn vihich wo
possess.
^
Qiuv 6
iK Tov ^lovjelov, Alyvirrioi,
(pi\6(TO<f>oi,
Ji'yxP^^ ^^ UdTririft ri^
<pi\oc6^
Kal avrc^ 'AXeâvdper irOyxavov di an<por{poi
iirl
Qfodoaiov fiaffi\^ws tov Tfxff^vri-
poV iypafe
'MaOTj/xariKd,
'
ApiO/xrjTtKo, k. t. \.

12
certainly incorrect .and

for
due to a confusion on the part of Suidas, Pappos probably flourished under Diocletian (a. D, 284 305) but the date of a certain Commentary of Theon has been
;
definitely determined' as the year
372
A. D.
and he undoubtedly
I.
flourished, as Suidas says, in the reign of
Theodosius
(379
395
A. D.).
The next authority who must be mentioned is the (4) Arabian historian Abu'lfaraj, who places Diophantos without remark under the emperor Julian. This statement is important in that it gives the date which has been the most generally acThe passage in Abu'lfaraj comes after an enumeration cepted. of distinguished men who lived in the reign of Julian, and is
thus translated by Pococke
A. B.
:
"Ex
iis
Diophantes, cuius liber
quem Algebram
a
difiicult
vocat Celebris est."
It is
question to decide
allowed to Abu'lfaraj's dogmatic statement.

rities
how much weight is to be Some great authoto be valueless.
have unequivocally pronounced

it
it
Cossali
attributes
by Abu'lfaraj of our author with another Diophantos, a rhetorician, who is mentioned in another article'^ of Suidas as having been contemporary with the emto a confusion
peror Julian (361
363); and assumes that Abu'lfaraj made the

Abu'lfaraj's translator, Pococke, to the effect
statement solely on the authority of Suidas, and confused two Cossali remarks at the same time persons of the same name.
upon a statement of
that the
Arabian historian did not know Greek and Latin.
Colebrooke too' {Algebra of the Hindus) takes the same view. Ncnv it certainly seems curious that Cossali should remark upon
Abu'lfaraj's ignorance of
Greek and yet suppose that he made a

;
statement merely upon the authority of Suidas and the quesWe tion suggests itself: had Abu'lfaraj no other authority?
1
"On
the date of Pappus," Ac., by

xxviii. 403.
Hermann
Usener, Neues Rheinisches
Museum, 1873, Bd.

*
Ai^dvios, (TO(piaTr)i AvTioxf'y. twv ivl toO 'lovXiavov toO
UapaâTov
xp<5'w'.
Kal
fJi^XP^
Qeo5offlov tov vpea^vripov, 'âayaviov Trarpoj, fiadrjrr]^ Aio(pdin-ov.
* Note M. p. LXiii. "The Armenian Abu'lfaraj places the Algebraist Diophantus under the emperor Julian. Ihit it may be (luestioned whether he ha8 any authority for that date, besides the mention by Greek authors of a learned person of ihc name, the instructor of Libanius, who was contemporary with tht^t
pmperor,"
HISTORICAL INTR()incTR)X.
l.S
was remarked by Schulz, admit that he must have had for he gives yet another statement about Diophaiitos, which certainly comes from another source, that his work was
certainly, as
;
must
translated
into
Arabic, or
commented upon, by Mohanuiicd

to
Abu'1-Wafa. There would seem however
be but one possibility
which would make Abu'lfaraj's statement trustworthy. Is it possible that the two persons, whom he is supposed to have
confused, are identical
nius
distinguished
?
mathematician
contrary,
Is it a sufficient objection that Liba? himself chiefly as a rhetor and not as a In fact, in the absence of any evidence to the
why should
also
the arithmetician Diophantos not have

?
been a rhetorician
This question has given occasion to
some jests on the compatibility of the two accomplishments. M. Tannery, for example, quotes Fermat, who was " Conseiller de Toulouse " and Nesselmann mentions Aristotle, arriving finally at the conclusion that the two may be identical, and so,
;
while Abu'lfaraj's statement has nothing against

great deal in
its
it,
it
has a
favour.
But M. Tannery thinks he has made
the identification impossible by finding Suidas' authority, namely
Eunapios in the Lives of the Sophists, who mentions this other Diophantos as an Arabian, not an Alexandrian, and professing Certainly if this supposition is correct, we cannot at Athens \
identify the
ment
of Abu'lfaraj.
two persons, and therefore cannot trust the stateThere is a further consideration that the
reign of Julian (361
363) could
and
(2) the
certainly only have been the
end of Diophantos' life, as we see by comparing Theon's date, above mentioned, to whom Diophantos is certainly anterior; he may indeed have been much earlier, because (1) Theon
quotes him as a
classic,
absence of quotations before
Theon does not
necessarily
contemporary, for of
show that the two were nearly previous writers to Theon who would have
?
been likely to quote Diophantos

(5)
In the preface to
his Algebra, published
A.D.
1572,
Rafael Bombclli gives the bare statement that Diophantos lived

^
"II uous donne ce Diophante, qu'il a connu et dont
il
ne
fait d'ailleure
pas grand cas,
comme
nO,
non pas
a,
Alexandrie, ainsi que
le
matht-maticien,
mais en Arable Athenes."
(AiocpavTos 6
'Apdîos), et, d'autre part,
conime prolessant A
14
DIOPIIANTOH OF ALEXANDRIA.
in the reign of Antoninus Pins', giving no proof or evidence of

it.
From
the demonstrated incorrectness of certain other state-
ments of Bombelli concerning Diophantos we may infer that we ought not hastily to give credence to this on the other hand it is scarcely conceivable that he would have made the assertion without any ground whatever. The question accordingly arises, whether we can find any statement by an earlier writer, which might have been the origin of Bombelli 's assertion. M. Tannery thinks he has found the authority while engaged in another
;
research into the evidence on which Peter
Ramus
ascribes to
Diophantos a treatise on Harmonics '^ an assertion repeated by

Gessner and Fabricius^.
conjectures
As
cannot follow M. Tannery in his

I will give the
for
they are nothing better, but are rather con-
jectures of the wildest kind,
substance of his
remarks without much comment, to be taken

worth.
for
what they are

no reason to
6 <yepo)v,
According to M. Tannery Ramus' source of information

;
was a Greek manuscript on music
this there is
doubt; and in the edition of Antiquae musicae auctores by
Meibomius we
read, in the treatise
by Bacchios
that
there were five definitions of rhjjthm, attributed to Phaidros,
Aristoxenos, Nikomachos, Ae6(f)avT0<; and Didymos.
Now
the
is,
name
Aed<âi/T09
is
not Greek; the form Aea)(f)avTo<; however
but M. Tannery argues that a confusion between Aeo and Atw is much less likely than a confusion between Aco and Aio. (I may be
allowed to remark here that I cannot agree with this view.
Of course
that
to
I
and
are extremely likely to be confounded, but
should have been at the same tmie changed into

probable.
seems
me anything but
Besides, this involves two changes,
whereas the change of Ae into Aeo involves only one variation.

This latter change then
1
is
the smaller one, and
why should
it
"Qucsti
aniii passati, csscndosi ritrouato
una opera greca
di qucsta dis-
ciplina nclla
libraria di Nostra Siguore in Vaticano, coniposta

il
da un certo
Diofantc Alessandrino Autor Greco,

[I I
quale
fh a tempo
di Antonin Pio..."
in the British
quote from the edition published in 1579, which
is
Museum.
et alii memorant, iuteUige de harmonicis numcris, uou dc scripto quoJam musici argumeuti," though what is meant by "harmonic numbers," as Nessclmann remarks, is not quite clear.
=*
have not seen the original edition of 1572.] 2 "Scripserat et Diophantus harmonica." "Harmonica Diophanti, quae (icsiwrus

HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION'.
be
less likely
lo
than the other

likely of the
?
;
I confess that it for the long

is
far the
more
two
seems to mc hy ami short vowx-ls o,

fact
il
M must have been closely associated, as

that in ancient inscriptions^
indiscriminately,
proved by the
we
find
written for both
and
and in others
used for both sounds.)

writers.
Tlicii,
according to M. Tannery,
Ai6(f)avTo<;,
Ramus
probably took the name
for
Admitting that the identification with the arithmetician Diophantos is hypothetical enough, M. Tannery goes on to say that it is confirmed
and was followed by other
by finding the name of Nikomachos next to Ae6(f)avTo<i, and by observing that Euclid and Ptolemy also were writers on music, which formed part of the fiadrjixara. Now in enumerations of
this sort the chronological order is generally followed,
and the
dates of
many
"
authors have been decided on grounds no more
(It is an obvious remark to make to M. two wrongs do not make a right " it does not follow that, because other dates have been decided on insufficient grounds, we should determine Diophantos' date in the same manner wKfiught rather to take warning by such unsatisfactory determinations. But to proceed with M. Tannery's remarks) In the present case we know that Aristoxenos was a disciple of Aristotle, and that Nikomachos was posterior to Thrasyllos who
certain than this.
Tannery that
lived in the reign of Tiberius.

logical order for
Thus we can prove the chrono-
two of the five names. Again, Nikomachos must be anterior to his commentator Apuleius who was contemporary with Ptolemy, and Ptolemy speaks in his Harmonics of a tetrachord due to a neo-Pythagorean Didymos. Of Phaidros we know nothing. Hence if we admit that the names are given in chronological order, and remember that Diophantos lived to be 84 years of age, we might say that, coming between Nikomachos and Didymos, he lived in the reign of Antoninus Pius, as Bombelli states, i.e. 138 IGl A.D. M. Tannery, however, is conscious of certain objections to
this theory of Diophantos' date.
This determination would, he

'êpoiv
says,
'
have great weight

mean, of course,
if
Bacchios 6
had been an author
inscrr. later
time one sign was necessarily used for both
than the introduction of Q, before which Further, I lay no strcBH letters.
upon
this fact except as
an
illustration.
16
DIOPHANTOS OV ALEXANDRIA.
of"
sufficiently near in point
time to Diophantos and the rest in

Unfortuoately, however,
order to
that
know
their respective ages.
is far
He
is
from certain, Bacchios' own date being very doubtful. generally supposed to have lived in the time of Constantine
;
the Great
this
is
however questioned by M. Tannery who

to
thinks that the epigram given by Meibomius, in which Bacchios

is
associated with a certain Dionysios, refers
Constantine
who belongs to the sixth century. Next, grave doubts may be raised concerning the determination by
Porphyrogenetes,
of
means of the supposed chronological order; for the definitions rhythm given by Nikomachos and Diophantos (?) are very
of that of
avvd<TC<i'
:
nearly alike, that of Diophantos being apparently a development
Nikomachos kutu 8e NiKOfiaôv, '^povcou evTUKTO'i Kara 8e Ai6(f)avTov (?), -^povcov avvdeai<; kut dvaXo'îav The similarity of the two re Kol (TVfifierplav irpo'i eavTov<;. definitions might itself account for their juxta-position, which might then after all be an inversion of chronological order. By Again the age of Didymos must be fixed differently. " Didymos " is meant the son of Herakleides Ponticus, grammarian and musician, whom Suidas places in the reign of Nero. Thus, if we assume Bacchios' order to be chronological, we must place Diophantos in the reign of Claudius, and Nikomachos in
that of Caligula.
3.
Results of the preceding investigation.
I have now reviewed all the evidence we have respecting the time at which Diophantos lived and wrote, and the conclusions
arrived
rities
at,
on the basis of this evidence, by the greatest authoIt
upon the subject. be called in any sense

sufficient to
must be admitted the

;
result cannot
satisfactory
indeed the data arc not

issue.
determine indisputably the question at
The
latest determination of Diophantos' date is that of
M. Tannery, and there has been no theory propounded which seems on the whole preferable to his, though oven it cannot be said to have been positively established it has, however, the merit that, if it
;
cannot be proved,
it
cannot be impugned
as therefore it
seems
HISTORICAL INTROnrcTION.
open
to
17
it
no objection,
it
would seem best
to accept
provisionally,
as the least uusatistactory theory.
be not improbably right in placing Diophantos in the second half of the third century of our era, making him thus a contemporary of
shall therefore
We
Pappos, and anterior by a century to Theon of Alexandria and

his
daughter Hypatia,
period
One thing is quite certain: that Diophantos lived in a when the Greek mathematicians of great original power had been succeeded by a number of learned commentators, who
confined their investigations within the limits already reached,
without attempting to further the development of the science.
To
this general rule there are
two most striking exceptions,
in
different
Diophantos and Pappos. These two mathematicians, who would have been an ornament
branches of mathematics,
to
when
any age, were destined by fate to live and labour at a time their work could not check the decay of mathematical
learning.
There is scarcely a passage in any Greek writer where either of the two is so much as mentioned. The neglect of their works by their countrymen and contemporaries can be
explained only by the fact that they were not appreciated or
understood. The reason why Diophantos was the earliest of the Greek mathematicians to be forgotten is also probably the reason why he was the last to be re-discovered after the Revival of Learning. The oblivion, in fact, into which his writings and
methods
there
is
fell
understood.
so
is due to the circumstance that they were not That being so, we are able to understand why much obscurity concerning his personality and the
time at which he
lived.
Indeed, Avhen
we
consider
little
how
little
he was understood, and in consequence how

can only congratulate ourselves that so
survived to the present day.
esteemed,
we
much
of his
work has
CHAPTER
;
II.
THE WORKS OF DIOPHANTOS THEIR TITLES AND GENERAL CONTENTS; THE PORTIONS OF THEM WHICH SURVIVE.
1.
We
(1)
know
titles.
of three works of Diophantos,
which bear
the following
Wpi6fxr]TtKci}v /Si/SXia ly.

Trep]
(2)
(3)
TToXvyoovcov apidfioov.
TropiafMara.
With respect to tlie first title we may observe that the meaning of "dpid/jbrjTiKa' is slightly different from that assigned The ancients drew a marked to it by more ancient writers. distinction between dpidfiijTiKT] and \ 0740- rt/c?;, both of which were concerned with numbers. Thus Plato in Gorgias 451 B*
states that dpidfirjrtKy']
is
concerned with the abstract properties
of numbers, odd even, and so on, whereas
the same odd and even, but in relation

also gives us definitions of the
dpidfxrjTLKij
to
XoytaTCKij deals with Geminos one anotlier.

According to him
of numbers, while
two terms.
deals with
abstract properties
XoyiariKi] gives solutions of problems about concrete numbers.
From Geminos we
see that enunciations were in ancient times
concrete in such problems.

'
But
in Diophantos the calculations

eariv
rj
tIs
fjie
fpoiTo..!'(l
SwAcpares, tL^
dptOfirjTiKr]
t^x*''?>
cI'toim'
/xe
S**
avTip, tSairep
<ri>
dpri, 6ti
tL
;
twv 5id \6you

Av, 6ti
5'
tis t6
Kvpoi ixovauv.
Kal et
iwavip-
ono Twf
(Kdrepa
ilvoiix
iTfpl tI
rj
;
TTipl
etiroifi'
twv vtpl rb Apribv tc koI

5^
irtpiTTov
Ti^yx'**'^'
^"'aai>T7)
'
av fpoiTO, Trjv
trdv
XoyiariKriv rlva
Sj dp KoKds rix^riv 'H

&\\a KaOdwep
&v 6ti Kal

etiToifJ.^
T}
iarl tCiv \6yifi t6

o\ iv rc^
Kvpovp-ivuv.
Kal el IwavipoiTo
hv wainp
StJ^v <iv-f^pa.<^6iXivoi, Sri ra fikv

TO avTO
dpiOixrjTiKTi
XoyuTTiKT] ^X"'
""fpi
yap
icTL, to re dpTiov Kal to irepiTToV

ttuis
diatpitid Sk
ToaovTov, oti Kal

7]
tt/jos
aina Kal
Trpos
aX\i)\a
?x** irXridovi iiriffKOirei
TO TTCpiTTOV Kal TO df>Tl0V
XoyKTTlKrj.
(.tOnjlUg,
451
B,C.
HIS WORKS.
10
take an abstract form, so that the distinction between XoyiaTiKij
and
the
apidfjiriTLKr]
is
lost.
We
thus have W.pid/xr}TiKd given as
work, whereas in earlier times the term could only properly have been applied to his treatise on Polygonal
title of his
Numbers.
metic
is
not without
This broader use by Diophantos of the term arithits importance.

this preliminary
Having made
have been
lost,
remark
it is
next necessary to
observe that of these works which
we have mentioned some The Arithmetics

But
which
all
while probably the form of parts of others has
suffered considerably
by the ravages of time.
should, according to the title and a distinct statement in the
introduction to
it,
contain thirteen Books.
the
six
known
MSS.^ contain only six
books, with the sole variation
that in the Vatican MS. 200 the
same
seveii.
text,
in the rest
forms six books,
is
divided into
Not only do the

work
;
MSS.
practically agree in the external division of the
they
agree also in an equally remarkable manner
them which have up
to the present
been collated
at
least all of
in the lacunae
is
and the mistakes which occur
in the text.
So much
this
the case that Bachet, the sole editor of the Greek text of
Diophantos, asserts his belief that they are

original ^
^
all
copied from one
This can, however, scarcely be said to be established,
The
13.
six mss. are
Vatican mss.
No. 191, xiii. c, cbarta bombycina. No. 200, XIV. c, charta pergamena. No. 304, XV. c, charta.
4.
5.
6.
MS. in Nat. Library at Paris, that used by Bachet for his text.
MS. in Palatine Library, collated for Bachet by Claudius Salmasius.
Xylander's ms. which belonged to Andreas Dudicius.
Colebrooke considers that 5 and 6 are probably identical.

-
"Etenim neque codex Eegius,

is
neque
cuius ope banc editionem adornavimus; quern prae manibus habuit Xilander; neque Palatinus, vt doctissimo
;
neque Vaticanus, quern vir suniniua lacobus Sirmondus mihi ex parte transcribendum curauit, quicquam amplius continent, quam sex hosce Arithmcticorum libros, et tractatum de iiumeris
viro ClauLlio Salmasio refcrente accepimus
multangulis imperfectum.
Sed
et tarn
infeUcitcr
consentiunt, vt ab vno fonte manasse et ab
hi omnes eodem exemplari
codices inter ae
dcscriptos fuisso
esse, veris-
non dubitem.
It will
Itaque
parum
auxilij
ab his subministratum nobis
simu allirmare possum,"
Epintola ad Lectorem.
be seen that the learned Bachet spells here, as everywhere, Xylander's

giving
it
name wrongly,
as Xilander.
20
for
Bachet had no knowledge of two of the three Vatican MSS. and had only a few readings of the third, furnished to him by
Jacobus Sirmondus.
It is possible therefore that the collation
of the two remaining mss. in the Vatican
might even now lead
to important results respecting the settling of the text.
The
evidence of the existence in earlier times of
all
the thirteen
it absolutely incorrect. Bachet Regiomontanus asserts that he saw the thirteen books somewhere, and that Cardinal Perron, who had recently died, had often told him that he possessed a MS.
books
says
*
is
very doubtful, some of
that Joannes
containing the thirteen books complete, but, having lent

to a fellow-citizen,
it
who died
before returning
covered
it.
Respecting this latter

sufficient
it
had never reMS. mentioned by Bachet

it,
we have not
as to
data to lead us to a definite conclusion
whether
really corresponded to the title, or, like the
MSS.
which we knoAv, only announced thirteen books.

it is
If
it
really corresponded to the title,
remarkable how
(in
the
words of Nesselmann) every possible unfortunate circumstance and even the " pestis " mentioned by Bachet seem to have
conspired to rob
works.
posterity of at
least
a part of Diophantos'
Respecting the statement that Regiomontanus asserts that
he saw a MS. containing the thirteen books, it is clear that Xylander states in two it is founded on a misunderstanding. passages of his preface " that he found that Regiomontanus
1
"loannes tamen Regiomontanus tredecini Diophanti

asseverat,
et
libros
se
alicubi
vidisse
illustrissimus
Cardinalis
Perronius,
quern
nupei-
ex-
tinctum niagno Christianae
et literariae
Rcipublicae detrimeuto, conquerimur,
mihi saepe testatus

qui in
est, se
codicem manuscriptum habuisse, qui tredeeim Dio-
phanti libros integros contineret, quern cilm Gulielmo Gosselino conciui suo,
Diophantum Commentaiia meditabatur, perhumauiter more suo exhipauUo post accidit, ut Gossclinus peste correptus iuteriret, et Diophanti codex codem fato nobis criperetur. Cum enim prccibus meis motus Cardinalis amplissimus, nullisque sumptibus pai-cens, apud heredes Gosselini codicem ilium diligenter exquiri mandassct, et quouis pretio redimi, nusquam repertus
buisset,
est."
*
Ad
lectorcm.
"Inueni deinde tanquam exstantis in bibliothecis Italicis, sibique uisi mentionem a Regiomontano (cuius etiam nominis memoriam ueneror) factam."
Xylander, Epistola nuncupatoria.
"Sane tredeeim
libri
Arithmeticae Diophanti ab
aliis
perhibentur exstare in
Ibid.
bibliotheca Vaticana; quos
Regiomontanus
illo
uiderit."
HIS WORKS.
21
mentioned a MS. of Diophantos which he liad seen in an Italian library; and that others said that the thirteen books were
extant in the Vatican Library,
"
Now
as regards the latter statement,

;
which Regiomontanus saw." Xylander was obviously
wrongly informed
the thirteen books.
for
not one of the Vatican Mss. contains
It is necessary therefore to inquire to
what
passage or passages in Regiomontanus' writings Xylander
refers.
Nesselmann
finds only one place
which can be meant, an Oratio
habita Patavii in praelectione Alfragani^ in which Regiomon-
tanus remarks that

into
" no one has yet translated from the Greek Latin the thirteen books of Diophantosl" Upon this
Nesselmann observes
it
even if Regiomontanus saw a MS., had the thirteen books, except on the title-page and the remarks which Regiomontanus makes upon the contents show that he had not studied them thoroughly but it is not usually easy to see, by a superficial examination,
that,
it
does not follow that

;
into
is
how many
sections a Ms.
is
divided.
However,- this passage
mention of Diophantos by a European writer; the date of the Speech was probably about 1462. The only other passage, which Nesselmann was acquaintinteresting as being the
first
ed with and might have formed some foundation for Xylatider's

conclusion,
is
one in which Regiomontamis
(in
the same Oratio)
describes a journey which he
made
to
Italy for the purpose
of learning Greek, with the particular (though not exclusive)

1
Printed in the work
Eudimenta astronomica
Alfrarfani.
"Item Albaet
tegnius astronomus peritissimus de

propriis turn
motu
stellarum, ex observationibus turn
Ptolemaei, omnia
cum
demonstrationibus Geometricis
in
Addi-
tionibus Joannis de Eegiomonte.
Item Oratio introductoria
omnen scientias
praelegeret.
Mathematicas Joannis de Reijiomonte, Patavii habita, cum Alfraganum pnblice Ejusdem utilissima introductio in elementa Euclidis. Item Epis-
Omnia tola Philippi Melanthonis nuncupatoria, ad Senatum Noribergensem. jam recens prelis publicata. Norimbergae anno 1537. 4to." - The passage is: "Diofanti autem tredecim libros subtilissimos nemo osqnehac ex Graecis Latinos
videlicet rei et census,
It
fecit,
in quibus flos ipse totius Arithmeticae latet, are
quam
hodie vocant Algebram Arabico nomine."
does not follow from this, as Vossius maintains, that Kegiomontanus supcensus," which
posed Dioph. to be the inventor of algebra.
The "ars
equations,
is
rei et
is
;
not found in our Dioph.
and even supposing that

is
the solution of determinate quadratic it was given in
the MS. which liegiomontanus saw, this

special mention.
not a point which would
des4.rô
22
object of turning into Latin certain Greek mathematical works\
But Diopliantos
of Cossali
is
not mentioned by name, and Nesselmann
it is a mere conjecture on the part and Xylander, that among tlie Greek writers mentioned and that we have in this passage Diophantos was included no ground for thinking, on the authority of these passages, that Regiomontanus saw the thirteen books in a complete form.
accordingly thinks that
to have known of a passage which is later than the Oration at Padua, and shows to my mind most clearly that Regiomontanus never saw the complete work. It is in a letter to Joannes de Blanchinis^ in which Regiomontanus states that he found at Venice " Diofantus," a Greek arithmetician who had not yet been
But Nesselmann does not seem

in another place,
translated into Latin

several powers
all
'^
that in the
proemium he defined the

whether he followed out
up
to the sixth, but
the combinations of these Regiomontanus does not
know
for not more than six books are found, though in the proemium he promises thirteen. If this book, a wonderful and difficult luork, could be found entire, I should like to translate it into Latin, for the knowledge of Greek I have lately acquired would
suffice
for thisV' &c.
The date
of this occurrence
is
stated
After the death of his teacher, Georg von Peurbach, he tells us he went
to
Eome
&c. with
orbitam
viri clarissimi sectarer?
Duce itaquo
igitur rehquum crat nisi ut tuum pro viribus exequerer? patrono communi Romam profectus more meo Uteris exerceor, ubi
Cardinal Bessaiion.
"Quid
felix
coeptum
scripta plurima
Graecorum clarissimorum ad literas suas disceudas me invitant, quo Latinitas in studiis praesertim Mathematicis locupletior redderetur." Peurbach died 8 April, llGl, so that tlie journey must have taken place between 1-lGl and 1171, when he permanently took up his residence at NiimDuring
Given on
this time
berg.
delivered the Oration), Venice,

2
he visited in order Eome, Ferrara, Padua (where he Rome (a second time) and Vienna.
v.
p.
135 of Ch. Th.
Murr's Memorabilia, Norimbergae, 1786, and
partly in Doppelmayr, Ilistorischc Nachricht von der Kiirnbergischen Mathe-
uml Kiimtlcrn, p. 5. Note y (Niiruberg, 1730). The whole passage is " Hoc dico dominationi uestrae me reperisse nunc uenetiis Diofantum aritlimeticum graecum nondum in latinum traductura. Hie in prohemio diiliniendo terminos huius artis ascendit ad cubum cubi, primura cnim uocat uumcrum, quern numeri uocant rem, secundum uocat potentiam, ubi uumeri dieunt censum, deinde cubum, deinde potentiam poteutiae, uocant numerum censum Ncscio tamen si oumes comde ceusu, item cubum de ccusu ct taudom cubi.
vuiticis
3
"
HIS WORKS.
in a note to be 1463.
2li
to the statement that
Here then we have a distinct contradicti-.u Regiomontanus speaks of having si-eu tliir-
teen books
so that Xylander's conchisions
No conclusion
letter to
must be abandoned. can be arrived at from the passage in F'ermat's
Digby (15 August 1G57) in which he says: The nanu' of this author (Diophantos) " me donne I'occasion de vous faire
me faire de recouvrer quelque manuscrit de c^t Autheur, qui contienne tous les treize livres, et de m'en faire part, s'il vous pent tomber en main."
souvenir de la promesse, qu'il vous a pleu
This
is
clearly
no evidence that a complete Diophantos existed
at the time.
Bombelli (1572) states the number of books to be seven\ showing that the MS. he used was Vatican No. 200.
To go
II. in
farther back
still
in time,
Maximus Planudcs, who
lived in the time of the Byzantine
the
first
the two
first
Emperors Andronicus I. and half of the 14th century, and wrote Scholia to books of the Arithmetics, given in Latin in
Xylander's translation of Diophantos,
knew
the work in the
same form
in
which we have
it,
so far as the first
two books
are due
are concerned.
From
these facts Nesselmann concludes that

it,
the corruptions and lacunae in the text, as we have
to a period anterior to the 14th or even the 13th century.
There are yet other means by which lost portions of Diophanmight have been preserved, though not found in the original text as it has come down to us. We owe the recovery of some
tos
Greek mathematical works to the finding of Arabic translations

of them, as for inststnce parts of Apollonios.
binationes
Now we know
horum proseeutus
in
nunc apud me sunt,
non enim reperiuntur nisi 6 eius libri qui prohemio autem pollicetur se scripturum tredecim. Si
fuerit.
liber hie qui reuera pulcerrimus est et diflicilimus, integer inueniretur [Doppel-
mayr, inueHi'atur] curarem

literae graecae
quas in
obsecro
si
apud uestros
eum latiuum facere, ad hoc enim sufficereut mihi domo domini mei reuerendissimi didici. Curate et uos usquam inueniri possit liber ille integer, sunt enim in
periti,
urbe uestra non nulli graecarum litterarum

tuae facuitatis libros huiusmodi occurrere.
quibus solent inter caetoros

si
Interim tamen,
suadebitis. Hex
dictos libros traducere in latinum occipiam, quatenus latinitas hoc
nouo
et
pretiosissimo
1
munere non
careat.
il
"Egli
e io, per arrichire
mondo
di cosi fatta opera, ci dessimo
i\
tradurlo
e cinque libri {delU settc che sotio) tradutti
ue abbiamo."
Bombelli, pref. to
Algebra.
24
that Diophantos was translated into Arabic, or at least studied and commented upon in Arabia. Why then should we not
be as fortunate in respect of Diophantos as with others ? In the second part of a work by Alkarkhi called the Fakhrl^ (an algebraic treatise) is a collection of problems in determinate and indeterminate analysis which not only indicate that their author had deeply studied Diophantos, but are, many of them, directly taken from the Arithmetics with the
change, occasionally, of some of the constants.
tions of Alkarkhi to
his Notice sur
le
The
obliga-
Diophantos are discussed by Wopcke in Fakhrl. In a marginal note to his MS. is a

iv.
remark attributing the problems of section

III.
and of section
in part to Diophantos^.
Now
section IV. begins with pro-
last 14 of Diophantos' Second Book, and ends with an exact reproduction of Book ill. Intervening between these two parts are twenty-five problems which are not found in our Diophantos. We might suppose then that we have
blems corresponding to the
here a lost Book of our author, and

so struck
Wopcke
says that he was

dis-
by the gloss
in the MS, that
he hoped he had
covered such a Book, but afterwards abandoned the idea for the
reasons
:
(1)
That the
first
first
twelve of the problems depend upon
equations of the
or second degree which lead, with
two
exceptions, to irrational results, whereas such were not allowed
by Diophantos.
(2)
The
;
thirteen other problems which are
indeterminate problems of the second degree are, some of them,

quite unlike Diophantos
others have remarks upon methods
employed, and references to the author's commentaries, which
we should not expect

Diophantos.
It
to find if the
problems were taken from
does not seem possible, then, to identify any part of

I
The book which
traits d' Algl'bre

1)52,
par Abou liekr
have made use of on this subject is: "Extrait dn Fakhrl, Mohammed ben Alhavan Alkarkhi (mauuscrit
la bibliothequc
supplement arabe de
Imperiale) pr^ced6 d'un m<?moire sur
I'Algebre ind<5termiiiee chez les Arabes, par F. Woepckc, Paris, 1858."

2
Wopcke's translation
of this gloss is: "J'ai vu en cet endroit

:
une glose de
de DioAli
I'dcriture d'Ibn Alsir&dj
en ces termes
Je dis, les probli'mes de cette section et
une partie de ceux de

phante, suivunt I'ordre.
Alsiiiulj Alkclaueci."
la section pr^c(5dente, scut pris
dans
les livres
Ceci fut 6crit par
Ahmed
IJen Abi 13eqr
Ben
Ben
HIS WORKS.
2.'>
lost.
the Fakhrl as having formed a part of Diophantos' work now Thus it seems probable to suppose that the form in which
the present.
of Dioph.
Alkarkhi found and studied Diophantos was not different from This view is very strongly supported by the followII.
ing evidence.
19
Bachet has already noticed tliat the solution is really only another solution of ii. 18, and
its
does not agree with
own
40)
enunciation.
Now
in
the Faklu^l
as
we have a problem
Dioph.
It
is
II.
(iv.
with
is
the
same enunciation
19,
but a solution which
not in Diophantos' manner.
remarkable to find
is
this followed
ii.
which
the same as Dioph.
by a problem (iv, 41) 20 (choice of constants always
It is then sufficiently probable that il. 19 and 20 followed each other in the redaction of Diophantos known to Alkarkhi and the fact that he gives a non-Diophantine
excepted).
solution of
19 would show that he had observed that the enunciation and solution did not correspond, and therefore set himself to work out a solution of his own. In view of this
II.
evidence
we may probably assume

its
that Diophantos' work had
already taken
present mutilated form
when
it
came
into
the hands of the author of the Fakhrl.
This work was written
by Abu Bekr
Mohammed
ibu
Alhasan Alkarkhi near the

;
beginning of the 11th century of our era

the 11th century.
so that the cor-
ruption of the text of Diophantos must have taken place before
There
last,
is
yet another Arabic work even earlier than this

lost,
apparently
the discovery of which would be of the

It
is
greatest historical interest and importance.
a work upon
Diophantos, consisting of a translation or a commentary by Mo-
hammed
is
Abu'1-Wafa, already mentioned incidentally.

discovery of his work
entire
doubtful whether the
enable us to restore any of the lost parts of Diophantos.

is
But it would There
of evidence
no evidence to lead us to suppose so, but there is a piece noted by Wopcke* which may possibly lead to
an opposite conclusion.
Abu'1-Wafa does not
satisfactorily deal
with the possible division of any number whatever into four Now the theorem of the possibility of such divi.siou squares.
Journal Asiatique.
Ciuqui^me
s^rie,
Tome
v. p.
231.
2b
is
assumed by Diophantos in several places, notably in iv. 31. have then two alternatives. Either (1) the theorem was not distinctly enunciated by Diophantos at all, or (2) It was
We
enunciated in a proposition of a lost Book.
In either case
Abu'1-Wafa cannot have seen the statement of the theorem ia Diophantos, and, if the latter alternative is right, we have an
argument
in favour of the
it is
view that the work had already been,
mutilated before
reached the hands of Abu'1-Wafa.
Now
of
Abu'l-Wafa's date
328388
of the Hegira, or
940988
our Era.
It
would seem, therefore, clear that the parts of Diophantos'

lacunae and
imperfections in the text had
Arithmetics which are lost were lost at an early date, and

that the present
their origin in all probability before the 10th century.
It
may be
said also with the
same amount
of probability
that the Porisms were lost before the 10th century a.d.
We
have perhaps an indication of this in the title of another work of Abu'1-Wafa, of which Wopcke's translation is " Demonstrations des thdoremes employes par
et de ceux
Diophante dans son ouvrage,
employes par (Aboul-Wafa) lui-meme dans son comIt is not possible to conclude with certainty from mentaire." the title of this work what its contents may have been. Are
the
"
theorems
"
those which Diophantos assumes, referring for
proofs of position
;
them
and,
to his
Porisms
which
This seems a not unlikely supit
if it is
correct,
would follow that the proofs

no longer in existence in
lost.
of these propositions,
Diophantos must have himself
given, in fact, the Porisms, were
the time of Abu'I-Wafa, or at least were lor him as good as

It
of
must be admitted then that we have no historical evidence the existence at any time subsequent to Diophantos himself
of the Porisms.
Of the
fragment.
It
is
treatise
It breaks
on Polygonal Numhers we possess only a off' in the middle of the 8th proposition.
not however probable that
much
is
wanting; practically
the treatise seems to be nearly complete. 2. The next (juestion which naturally suggests itself
is
As we have apparently six books only of the Arithmetics out of thirteen, where may we suppose the lost matter to have been
HIS WORKS.
27
at tlie beginning, micUHe, or This question can only be decided when we have come to a conclusion about the probable contents of the lost p<jrtion.
it
placed in the treatise?
Was
end?
been dogmatically asserted by many who have often without reading him at all, or reading him enough to enable them to form a judgment on the
It has, however,
written upon Diophantos
subject
that the Books, which
we
have, are the Jirst 9ix and
that the loss has been at the end; and such have accordingly
afterwards proceeded.
in
wondered what could have been the subject to which Diophantos To this view, which has no ground save
the
bare assertions of incompetent or negligent writers,

strongly.
Nesselmann opposes himself very

the contrary,
He
the
maintains on
sixth
with
much
reason,
that
in
Book
Diophantos' resources are at an end.
If one reads carefully
the last four Books, from the third to the sixth, the conclusion
upon one that Diophantos moves in a rigidly defined and limited circle of methods and artifices, that any attempts which he makes to free himself are futile. But this fact can
forces itself
onl}^
be adequately appreciated after a perusal of his entire

It
work.
may, however, be further added that the sixth Book

it is
forms a natural conclusion to the whole, in that

of exemplifications of
made up
methods explained and used

subject
is
in the pre-
ceding Books.
The
the
finding of
right-angled
triangles in rational numbers, such that the sides satisfy given
conditions, Arithmetic being applied to
Geometry
in the geosaid
metrical
notion
of the
right-angled
triangle.
As was
above,
we have now
to consider Avhat the contents of the lost
first
Books of the Arithmetics may have been. Clearly we must inquire what is actually wanting which we should have expected to find there, either as promised by the author
himself in his
own work,
or as necessary for the elucidation or
completion of the whole.
We
must therefore
briefly indicate
the general contents of the work as
we have
it.
The
first
equations of the
1
book contains problems leading to determinate first degree'; the remainder of the work being
of the rash way in which even good writers speak of Dioinstance here a remark of Viucenzo Riccati, who says: "De problematibus determiuatis quae rcsulutis aequatiouibus dignoscuutur, nilill
As a specimen
I
phantos,
may
28
DIOPH.\^TOS OF ALEXANDRIA.
a collection of problems which, with scarcely an exception, lead

to indeterminate equations of the second degree, beginning with
simpler cases and advancing step by step to more complicated

questions.
These indeterminate or semideterminate problems

collection.
form the main feature of the
Now
it is
a great step
from determinate equations of the first degree to semideterminate and indeterminate problems of the second; and we must
recognise that there
is
here an enormous gap in the exposition.
ought surely to find here (1) determinate equations of the second degree and (2) indeterminate equations of the first.
We
With regard
writer's plan;
to
(2), it is
quite true that

itself
we have no
is
definite
statement in the work

probable supposition.
quadratic equations,
that they formed part of the
but that they were discussed here
an extremely
determinate
With
on the
regard
other
to
(1)
or
hand,
we
have
certain
evidence from the writer's
own
words, that the solution of the

it
adfected or complete quadratic was given in the treatise as

originally stood
;
for,
in the first place, in
Diophantos promises a
(def.
discussion of
them
the introductory definitions

for
11)
where he gives rules
the reduction of equations of the

secondly, he uses his
second degree to their simplest forms;
method
for their solution in
the later Books, in some cases

it out,
simply giving the result of the solution without working
in others giving the irrational part of the root in order to find
an approximate value in integers, without writing down the

actual root\
We
(!);
find
examples of pure quadratic equations

duntaxat de eo problematum semidetenninatorum
oninino Diophantus
agit
genere, quae respiciimt quadrata, aut cubos
numerorum, quae problemata ut

Pref. to ana-
resolvantur, (juantitates radicales de industria sunt vitandae."

litiche istituzioni.
^
These being tbe indications in the work

die
itself,
what are we
to think of a
recent writer of a History of Mathematics,
who
says: "Hieraus
und aus dem

Theorie dcr
Umstand, dass Diophant nirgends

nicht gekannt,
zugctlieilt,"
von ihm versprochene

gibt, schloss
Auflosung der quadratiscben Gleichungen
man,
und bat desshalb den Arabern stets den Ruhm and goes on to say that "nevertheless Nesselmann after a thorough study of the work is convinced that D. knew the solution of the quadratic"? It is almost impossible to imagine that these remarks are serious. The writer is Dr Heinricli Suter, (Jcschichte d. Mathetmitischen WissemchaJ'ten. Zweite
Autliigf.
habe dieselbe dieser ErtinJuug

er
Ziiricb, 1873.
HIS Wol^KS.
29
first Book a fact which shows that Diophantos regarded them as in reality simple equations, taking, as he does, the positive value of the root only. Indeed it would seem that
even in the
Diophantos adopted as his ground

quantity contained in
it,
for the classification of these
equations, not the index of the highest power of the
unknown
but the number of terms left in it when it is reduced to its simplest form. His words are': "If the same powers of the unknown occur on both sides but with different coefficients we must take like from like until we have one single expression equal to another.
sides, or
If there are on both

coefficients,
on either
side,
terms with negative
the
defects
must be added on both
sides, until there are the
powers on both sides with positive

take like from like as before.
single
coefficients,
same when we must

if
We
must contrive always,
possible, to reduce our equations so that they
may
left
contain one
will
to
term equated to one other.
But afterwards we
equal
explain to you also hoiu, luhen two terms are

-
a
5^
Diophantos' actual words (which I have trauslated

d-rrb
freely) are:
MtrA
Tavra eav
5^ dirb
irpo^Xr^îaTos tlvos -yh-qrai virapîi eldeffi rots

fiepuiv,
avroh
jurj
ofioTrXTjBfj
eKar^puv twv
deriaa
a.<paipe'it> to.
ofxoia dir6
twu
6/xoiwv, ?a)S &v ^'ds(!)
elSoj pI eidei tjov
-yiv-qTaf
etSr),
eav de ttws if OTror^pu} ivvirapxTJ^^), ^ ^v dfKporipois

irpoaBelvaL
to,
iveWei^f/r] (?)
fxipeaii',
rivk
Slp
de-qaei
Xeivovra
etOT)
if
dfjLcpor^poii
roh
ews
eKarepij)
tQv
fxepQiv
rd
ei5r]
ivvirdpxovra. y^vrjTai.
tCiv fxepQ)V
Kal TraXi;' a'ê-
Xelv
Ta
6p.oi.a
diro
rwc onoiuf, ?ws &v
eKarepij)
if eTooi KaTa\(i<p6rj.
ne(pCKoTex''''i)<^6w
S^
tovto eu rats vvoffrdaecn twv irpordaiwv, lav eVS^^'n'ot. ?wi

vcrrepov 5^ aoi delô/xev Kal
hv if eldos
ivi
vl etdei tffov KaraKucpdrj.
nUk dvo ddwv tcuv

it
KaraXeKpO^vTUV to toiovtov XvcTai.

I give
Bachet's text exactly, marking those places where
seems obviously
WTong.
KCLTaXeL^drj
should of course be KaTaXeicpO^.
It is worth observing that L. Kodet, in Journal Asiatique, Janvier, 1878, on "L'Algebre d'Al-Ivliarizmi et les muthodes indienne et grecque," quotes this His passage, not from Bachet's text, but from the MS. which Bachet used.
readings show the following variations

Bachet.
yiv7)Tai
yevq(TTaL
[??
L. Rodet.
How
about the construc-
tion with idv ?]

virapîs
Tiva
icra
ivbs el8os
ivtXXeixpri
if elSos
iv
X(L\l/ei.
doubt the latter word very much, compounded as the verb is with the
[I
prep, iu twice repeated.]
so
third, such
a question
is solved."
That
is
to say, "reduce
when
I
possible the quadratic to one of the forms

will give later
x = a,
or x^
= b.
xâx=
as
b."
a method of solution of the complete equation Now this promised solution of the complete
is
quadratic equation
nowhere to be found in the Arithmetics in the second and following Books We have to decide, there are obvious cases of its employment. then, where it might naturally have come; and the answer is that the suitable place is between the first and second Books. But besides the entire loss of an essential portion of Diophautos' work there is much confusion in the text even of that
we have them, though
portion which remains.
Thus
clearly
problems
6,
7,
18,
19 of
the second Book, which contain determinate problems of the
Again, as already redegree, belong in reality to Book I, marked above, the problem enunciated in ii. 19 is not solved at all, but the solution attached to it is a mere " dXKco^" of ii. 18. Moreover, problems 1 5 of Book il. recall problems already solved in i. Thus il. l = l. 34: ii. 2 = 1. 37: ii. 3 is similar The problem i. 29 seems to I. 33 II. 4 = I. 35 li. 5 = I. 36. In the second Book a also out of place in its present position. new type of problem is taken up at il. 20, and examples of it
first
are continued through the third Book.
marked division between Books ii. and ill. in modern notation, the last two problems
of
III.
There is no sign of a In fact, expressed of li. and the first
are the solutions of the following sets of equations

35.
II.
x''+[x
+ y + z) = a^
-ir
y^+{x + y + z)=h'' :^ + [x y z) = c"

-\-
II.
36.
x^{x + y-\-z)= ay--{x + y + z) = lA

z"
-{x+y + z)=c-
III. 1.
+ y + z) -.!' = a" {x + y + z)~y' = U' {x + y + z)-2' = c'

(x
These
therefore
follow
it
perfectly
naturally
upon each other;
and
is
quite likely that our division between the two
; ;
HIS WORKS.
31
tlie
Books was not the original one. rence of more definite divisions
coupled with the variation
six
in
In fact
in
tlie
frequent occur-
middle of the Books, the Vatican Ms. which divides our
Books into seven, seems to show that the work may have been divided into even a larger number of Books originally. Besides the displacements of problems which have probably taken place there are many single problems which have been much corrupted, notably the fifth Book, which has, as Nesselmann expresses it\ been "treated by Mother Time in a very stepmotherly fashion". It is probable, for instance, that between V. 21 and 22 three problems have been lost. In several other
cases the solutions are confused or incomplete.
How
the im-
perfections of the text were introduced into

jecture.
it
we can
only conto the
Nesselmann thinks they cannot be due merely
carelessness of a copyist, but are rather due, at least in part, to
the ignorance and inexpertness of one
who wished
to
improve
upon the
original.
The
view,
which was put
forward
by
Bachet, that our six Books are a redaction or selection
made
from the complete thirteen by a later hand, seems certainly

untenable.
The
treatise
on Polygonal Numbers
'
is
in its subject related

is
to the Arithmetics, but the

different.
mode
of treatment
completely
an analytical work, but a synthetic one the author enunciates propositions and then gives their proofs X. of in fact the treatise is quite in the manner of Books vil. Euclid's elements, the method of representing numbers by
It is not
geometrical lines being used, which Cossali has called linear

Arithmetic.
This method of representation
is
only once used in

v. 13,
the Arithmetics proper, namely in the proposition

it is
where
and y have to be so determined that aj + 2, ?/ + 6 are both squares, we have to divide the number 9 into two squares of which one must be > 2 and < 3. From the use of this linear method in this one case in the Anthmetics, and commonly in the treatise on Polygonal Numbers,
used to prove that
if
a;
+ 7/=l,
and
a;
we
1
see that even in the time of Diophantos the geometrical
representation of
"Namentlich
numbers was thought

dicser Hinsicht daa fuufte
p. 2GB.
to
have the advantage

stiefmutterlich von dcr
ist in
Buch
Mutter Zeit behandelt woiden."
3.2
It
need scarcely be remarked how opposed modern ones, our tendency being the reverse, viz., to the representation of lines by numbers. The treatise on Polygonal Numbers is often, and probably rightly, held to be one of the thirteen original Books of the Arithmetics. There is absolutely no reason to doubt its genuineness which
of greater clearness.
this
Greek method
is
to our
remark would have been unnecessary but

Bossut to the
les six
for
a statement by
arithmetiques,
effect: "II avoit dcrit treize livres d'

(?)
premiers
si,
sont arrives jusqu'a nous
tons les autres
sont perdus,
ndanmoins, un septieme, qu'on trouve dans
quelques(!) editions de Diophante, n'estpas de lui"; upon which
Reimer has made a note " This Book on Polygonal Numbers is an independent work and cannot possibly belong to the Collection
:
of Diophantos' Arithmetics^"
This statement
is
totally un-
founded.
that
it is
With
Books
;
respect to Bossut's
almost certain that
own remark, we have seen the Books we possess are not the
all
first six
again, the treatise on Polygonal Numbei's does

of the editions of Diophantos
is
not only occur in some, but in
from Xylander to Schulz
and, lastly, Bossut
the only person
who has
ever questioned
its
genuineness.
We mentioned above the Porisms of Diophantos. Our knowledge of them is derived from his own words in three places in the Arithmetics he refers to them in the words exo/j-ev
;
iv
Tot<?
iropiaixacnv
the places are V.
3, 5, 19.
The
references
made
to
them
are for proofs of propositions in the Theory of

in these problems as
Numbers, which he assumes

sitions
known.
It
is
probable therefore that the Porisms were a collection of propo-
concerning the properties of certain numbers, their
divisibility into a certain

is
number
of squares,
and
so
on
and
it
reasonable to suppose that from
them he takes
also the
many
other propositions which he assumes, either explicitly enunciating

I
them, or implicitly taking them

to
for granted.
May we
not then
reasonably suppose the Porisms to have formed an introduction

the
indeterminate
and semi-determinate analysis of the
second degree which forms the main subject of the
A 7'ithmetics?
And may we
'
not assume this introduction to have formed an
"Dieses Buch de numeris multanguUn ist cine fiir sich bestehendc Schrift und gehort keinesweges in die Sammluug der Arithmeticorum Diophant'e."
Ills
WORKS.
?
3?
integral part,
now
lost,
of the original thirteen books
If this
supposition
is
correct the Po7'isms also
must have intervened be-
tween Books I. and ll., where we have already said that probably Diophantos treated of indeterminate problems of the first
degree and of the solution of the complete quadratic.
The
method
gonal
of the
Ponsms was
iVwrnfters,
;
probably synthetic, like the Polynot (like the six Books of the Anthmetics)
analytical
to include all three treatises
however forms no sufficient reason for refusing under the single title of thirteen Books of Arithmetics. These suppositions would account easily
this
for the contents of
the lost Books
they would
also,
with the
additional evidence of the division of our text of the Arithmetics

into seven books
by the Vatican
MS.,
show that the
lost portion
probably does not bear such a large proportion to the whole as
after
might be imagined. This view is adopted by Colebrooke \ and him by Nesselmann, who, in support of his hypothesis
that the Arithmetics, the Porisms and the treatise on Polygonal
title of dptd/jLTjTLKa,
Numbers formed only one complete work under the general points out the very significant fact that we never find mention of more than one work of Diophantos, and
seem
to
that the very use of the Plural Neuter term, dpid/xrjTiKa, would
imply that
it
was a
collection of different treatises on
arithmetical subjects and of different content.

ever, does not
Nesselmann, how-
seem
to
have noticed an objection previously urged
Algebra of the Hindus, Note M. p. lxi. "In truth the division of manuscript books is very uncertain: and it is by no means improbable that the remains of Diophantus, as we possess tlicni, may be less incomplete and constitute a larger portion of the thirteen books announced by him (Def. 11) than is commonly reckoned. His treatise on polygon
^
numbers, which
as
it
is surmised to be one (and that the last of the thirteen), follows, seems, the six (or seven) books in the exemi)lar8 of the work, as if the
preceding portion were complete.

essentially different
It is itself imperfect:
but the manner
is
from that of the foregoing books: and the solution
of
problems by equations is no longer the object, but rather the demonstration of propositions. There appears no gi-ouud, beyond bare surmise, to presume, that the author, in the rest of the tracts relative to numbers which fulfilled
his promise of
thirteen books, resumed the Algebraic

is at
manner: or
a single
in
short,
that the Algebraic part of his performance

extant,
all
mutilated in the copies

imperfect
which are considered to be
all
transcripts of
exemplar."
H. D.
34
DIOPllANTOS OF ALEXANDRIA.
against the theory that the three treatises formed only one work,
by Schulz, to the effect that Diophantos expressly says that his work treats of arithmetical problems^. This statement itself does not seem to me to be quite accurate, and I cannot think
that
it
is
at all a valid objection to Nesselmann's view.
The
passage to which Schulz refers must evidently be the opening
words of the dedication by the author to Dionysios. Diophantos begins thus: "Knowing that you are anxious to become acquainted with the solution [or
'
discovery,' eupecri?] of
problems
the pre-
in numbers, I set myself to systematise the method, beginning
from the foundations on which the science
is
built,
liminary determination of the nature and properties in numbers^."
Now
these "foundations"
may
surely well
mean more than
is
given in the eleven definitions with which the treatise begins,
and why should not the "properties of numbers" refer to the But there is Porisms and the treatise on Polygonal Numbers another passage which might seem to countenance Schulz's objection, where (Def. 11) Diophantos says "let us now proceed to the propositions'... which we will deal with in thirteen Books\"
.?
The word used here

(TrporaaL^;),
is
not problem
{Trpo/SXTj/xa)
but proposition
although Bachet translates both words by the same

" quaestio," inaccurately.
Latin word
Now
the word irporaaL^;

:
does not only apply to the analytical solution of a problem

applies equally to the synthetic method.
it
word here might very well

1
Thus the use of the imply that the work was to contain
(pref. xxi.):
Schulz remarks on the Porisms
"Es
ist
daher nicht uuwahr-
Bcheinlich dass diese Porismeu eine eigene Schrift uuseres Diophautus wareu,
welche vorziiglich die Zusammensetzung dcr Zahlen aus gew-issen Bestaudtheilen zu ihrem Gegeustando hattc.
Kunnte
man
diesc Schrift gar als eine
Bestandtheil
des
grossen
in
dreizehn
Biichern
abgefassten arithmetischen
Werkes anseheu,
so wiire es sehr erkliirbar, dass gerade dieser Theil, der den
blossen Liebhaber weniger anzog, verloren ging.

driickiich sagt, sein
Da indess Diophantus ausWerk behandele arithmetische Probleme, so hat weuigstens die letztere Annahme nur einen geringen Grad von Wahrscheinhchkeit." * Diophantos' own words are: Tiju tvptcnv twv iv roh apid/ioTs Trpo^XijfidTuiv,
TifU(l)TaT^ fiOL AiovOffie, -yivilKTKtiiv ae cnrovdalus
iweipdOrji', dpôfKifOS
d(f>'
^xovra naOuv, opyavwcrai r^c /j^dodov

0e(jif\lii)v,
uv avviarrjKe rd Trpaynara
vTroaTTJffai Trjv iv tois
dptOfioh
*
tpvffiv
T Kal Swaniv. rds irpordans x^RV'^'^t^^"'

'^'''
vvv 5^
iirl
T^s irpay/xareiai avrQv kv TpiffKaldfKa fii^Xlois yiyivripiivr)s.
HIS WORKS.
;i5
not only problems, but propositions on numbers, i.e. miglit include the Po7'isms and Polygonal Numbers as a part of the complete Arithmetics. These objections which I have made
to Schulz's
argument
are, I think,
objection to the view adopted by

Schulz's
enough to show that his Nesselmaun has no weight.

Books of
own view
is
as to the contents of the missing
Diophantos
that they contained
new methods
of solution in
addition to those used in Books
I. to vi., and that accordingly the lost portion came at the end of the existing six Books. In
particular he thinks that Diophantos extended in the lost Books
the method of solution by means of what he calls a doubleequation {Bi7r\r] laorr]^ or in one word
hi,Tr\ola6rr}<;).
By means
it
of this double-equation Diophantos shows of the
how
to find a value
unknown, which
will
make two
expressions containing
(linear or quadratic) simultaneously squares.
Schulz accordingly
thinks that he went on in the lost Books to show

three such expressions simultaneously squares,
triple-equation.
i.e.
how
to
make
advanced to a
find
This view, however, seems to have nothing to
recommend
it,
inasmuch
is
as, in
the
first place,
we nowhere
the slightest hint in the extant Books of anything different or
more advanced which
to
come
and, secondly, Diophantos'
system and ideas seem so self-contained, and his methods to
move always in the same certain that we come in our

There
is
well-defined circle that

six
it
seems
Books
to the limits of his art.
lost Books,
yet another view of the probable contents of the which must be mentioned, though we cannot believe that it is the riglit one. It is that of Bombelli, given by Cossali, to the effect that in the lost Books Diophantos went on to solve determinate equations of the third and fourth degree; Bombelli's reason for supposing this is that Diophantos gives so many
problems the object of which

a suitable value of the
is
to
make
;
the
sum
of a square
and any other number to be again a square number by finding

first
square
these methods, argues
Bombelli, of Diophantos must have been given for the reason

that the author intended to use
them
for the solution of the
equation x*-\-px
1
= q^.
Now
Bombelli had occupied himself

1'
Cossali's
words are
(p. 75,
76):..."non tralascier<i di notarc

diil
opinionc, di
cui fu teutato Bombelli, chc nclli soi libri cioe
tempo, di tutto
distrufe'gitore,
32
36
his
much, almost during
whole
life,
with the then new methods
of solution of equations of the third
and fourth degree
and, for
the solution of the latter, the usual method of his time led to
the making an expression of the form
Ax^+ Bx + C
unknown
a.
square,
where the
in
coefficients
involved
a second
it
quantity.
Nesselmann accordingly thinks

Diophantos'
entirely
is
no matter
for surprise that
independent investigations Bombelli
should have seen, or fancied he saw, his own favourite idea.
This solution of the equation of the fourth degree presupposes that of the cubic with the second term wanting hence Bombelli
;
would naturally, in accordance with his view, imagine Diophantos It is possible also that to have given the solution of this cubic. he may have been influenced by the actual occurrence in the extant Books [vi. 19] of a cubic equation, namely the equation
x^
solution
+ x = 4x^ + 4, a; = 4,
of
which Diophantos at once writes down the

It
is
without explanation.
obvious, however,
is
that no conclusion can be drawn from this, which
a very
easy particular case, and which Diophantos probably solved^ by
simply dividing out by the factor x^+l.

objections to Bombelli's view.
(1)
There are strong
Diophantos himself states
(Def. XI.) that the solution of the problems is the object in itself
of the work.
(2)
If
he used the method to lead up to the

In support of the view
is
it
solution of equations of higher degrees, he certainly has not gone

to
work the shortest way.
has been
asked "What, on any other assumption,

in
the object of defining

?
Def
ll.
all
powers of the unknown quantity up to the sixth

egli
rapitici, si
avanzasse
a sciogliere
1'
equazionc
x*+px-q,
parendogli, die
nei libri riinastici, con proporsi di trovar via via numeri quadrati,
cammini una
strada a qucU' intento.
Egli e di fatto procedendo sn queste tracce di Diofanto,
che Vieta deprime
1'
esposta equazione di giado quarto ad una di secondo.

si
Siccome
pen"!*
cio
il
non
effettua che
mediante una cubica mancante
di
secondo
termine; cosi
pcnsiero sorto in auimo a Bombelli iniporterebbc, che Diofanto

scioglimento di quella equazione di quarto
nei libri perduti costituito avesse la regola di sciogliere questa sorta di equa-
zione cubicbe prima
d' innoltrarsi alio
grado."
'
This
is
certainly a simpler explanation than Bachet's,

ar*
:
who
derives the
solution from the proportion
.x-=x
:
1.
Therefore
x' + x x^ + x
.r''-)-.r
x- + l
=
it
.r
1.
:
Therefore
4x^
+i=x
i.
But the equation being
4j-'-'
+ 4,
follows that
x-i.
HIS WORKS.
37
Surely Diophantos must have meant to use them."

to
The answer
but
which
is
that he has occasion to use
them
in the work,
reduces
all
the equations which contain these higher powers by
his regular
and uniform method of
analysis.
is
In conclusion, I
may
repeat that the most probable view
that adopted by Nesselmann, that the works which
we know
under the three titles formed part of one arithmetical work, which was, according to the author's own words, to consist of
thirteen Books.
is
The proportion
it
of the lost parts to

to be. to
tlie
whole
for
probably less than
form the part,
might be supposed the loss of which is most

it
is
The Ponsnis
be regretted,
from the references to them

propositions in the Theory of
clear
that they contained

for
Numbers most wonderful
the
time.
CHAPTER
III.
THE WRITERS UPON DIOPHANTOS.

1. In this chapter I purpose to give a sketch of what has been done directly, and (where it is of sufficient importance) indirectly, for Dioph antes, enumerating and describing briefly (so far as possible) the works which have been written on the
subject.
We
turn
first,
men
and we find
that, if
of Hypatia," spoken of
written anything at
all
own countrycommentary above, there is only one Greek, who has on Diophantos, namely the monk Maxinaturally, to Diophantos'
we except the doubtful
"
mus
Planudes, to
I.
whom
in
are attributed the scholia attached to

MSS.,
Books
is
and
ii.
some
which are printed in Latin
in
Xylander's translation of Diophantos.

the
first
The date
of these scholia
all
half of the 14th century, and they represent
that
we know
men.
to
have been done
for
Diophantos by his own country-
would have been, had he lived a the Greeks was still active, what an enormous impression his work would then have created, we may judge by comparing the effect which it had with that of a far less important work, that of Nikomachos.
different his fate
little earlier,
How
when the
scientific spirit of
Considering then that up to the time of Maximus Planudes nothing was written about Diophantos (beyond a single quotation by Theon of Alexandria, before mentioned, and an occa-
mention of the name) by any Greek, one is simply astounded at finding in Bossut's history a remark like the following " L'auteur a eu parmi les anciens une foule d'intersional
:
prfetes
(!),
dont
les
ouvrages sont
le
la
plupart
(!)
perdus.
Nous
regrettons,
dans ce nombre,
(sic)."
Hipathia
Comment
is
commentaire de la cdlebre With respect to unnecessary.
THK WRITKHS UPON DK H'HANTc )S.

the work of
:][)
Maximus Planudes
two Books, the
itself,
he has only commented
upon the
tary,
first
least
important and most olomen-
nor can his scholia be said to have any importance. Bachet speaks contemptuously of them\ and even the modest Xylander has but a low opinion of their value^
2.
have, in
first
mentioning Maximus Planudes, defor the greater con-
parted a
little
from chronological order,

first
venience of giving
the Greek writers upon Diophantos.
Diophantos had found

the respect
it
But long before the time of Maximus Planudes, the work of its way to Arabia, and there met with
deserved.
Unfortunately the actual works writall lost,
ten in Arabia directly upon Diophantos are
or at
lea.st
have not been discovered up to the present time. So far therefore as these are concerned we have to be contented with the
notices on the subject
by Arabian
historians or bibliographers.
It is therefore necessary to collect
from the
earliest
and best
sources possible the scattered remarks about Diophantos and
The earliest and therefore presumably the best and most trustworthy authority on the subject of Diophantos in Arabia is the Kifab Alfihrist of al-Nadim', the date of which The passages in this work which is as early as circa 990 a,d.
his works.
refer to
(a)
I
Diophantos are
p.
=
1
t;
269, "Diophantos [the last vowel, however, being in one codex, in the rest undetermined] the Greek of
Bachet says:
tiones edi
"Porro Graeci Sclioliastae non curauimus, vt quae nullius
in duos priores libros adnotasint
momenti, easque proinde
Guilielmus Xilander(!) censura sua meritd perstrinxerit, si cut tamen oleum operamque perderc a(le7) leue est, vt miras GraecuU huius ineptias peruidcre
cupiat, adeat Xilandrum."
-
bats
fuit,
Xylander says the Scholia are attributed to Maximus Planudes, and comthe view that they might be Hjiiatia's thus: "Sed profecto si ea tanta quantam Suidas et alij perhibent, istae annotationes cam autorcm non
liberfe dixi suis locis."
apnoscunt, de quibus quid senserim, raeo more
Kpistola
Nuncupatoria.
3
This work has been edited by
Fliigel, 1871.
The author himself

18.55,
dates
it
it
987,
and Wcipcke (Journal Asiatique, F^vrier-Mars,
p. 2.56) states that
was finished at that date. This is, however, not correct, for in his preface shows that the work contains references to events which are certainly cir<-a later than <)87, so that it seems best to say simply that the date is
Fliigel
990
A.I).
40
Alexandria.
He
wrote Kitab Sina'at al-jabr,"
i.e.
"the book of
is
the art of algebra."

(h)
p. 283,
Among
the works of Abii'1-Wafa
mentioned
"An
interpretation' (tafsir) of the
book
of
Diophantos about
algebra."
(c)
On
is
Wafa
the same page the title of another work of Abu'lgiven as " Demonstrations of the theorems employed
by Diophantos in his work, and of those employed by (Abu'lWafa) himself in his commentary " (the word is as before
tafsir).
{d)
p.
295,
On Kosta
is
ibn
Luka
of Ba'lbek it
is
mentioned
that one of his books
tafsir
on three-and-a-half divisions
(Makalat) of the book of Diophantos on " questions of numbers."
We have thus in the Fihrist mentions of three separate works upon Diophantos, which must accordingly have been written previously to the year 990 of our era. Concerning Abu'1-Wafa the evidence of his having studied and commented upon Diophantos is conclusive, not only because his other works which have survived show unmistakeable signs of the influence
of Diophantos, but because the proximity of date of the Fihrist
to that of
Abu'1-Wafa makes all mistake impossible. As I have was written circa 990 A.D. and the date of Abu'1-Wafa is 328388 a.h. or 940998 A.D. He was a native of Buzjan, a small town between Herat and Nishapur in Khorasan, and was evidently, from what is known of his works one of the most celebrated astronomers and geometers of his time^. Of later notices on this subject we may mention those
said the Fihrist
'
There
is
little
doubt as to the exact meaning of tafsir
whether
may
it
means
a translation or a commentary.
gesis of the
Koran
ibn
The word how much it means

al-Khruizml.
a
is
usually applied to the literal exe-
in the present case
perhaps be
ascertainable from the fact that Abu'1-Wafa also wrote a tafsir of the Algebra of
Mohammed
Musa
It certainly,
according to the usual sense,
mere translation e.g. at p. 249 al-Nadim clearly distinguishes translators of Aristotle from the mufassirln or makers of tafsir, i.e.
means a commentary not
commentators. For this information

Smith.
-
am
indebted to the kindness of Professor Robertson
Wcipcke, Journal Asiatiqne, Ft'vrier-Mars, 1855, p. 244

full
foil.
Abu'l-Wafa's
name
is
Mohammed
ibn
Mohammed
ibn
Yahya ibn Ismail
ibn Al'abbfis Abu'1-Wafa Al-Iiuzjani.

in the
41
Tarlkh Ilokoma (Hajji-Khalifa, No. 2204), by tho Imam ibn. 'Abd al-Karim al-Shahrastani wlio died A.ii. 548 or A.D. 1153\ Of course this work is not so trustworthy an authority as the Fihrist, which is about 160 years earlier, and the author of the Tarlkh HoJcoma stands to the Fihrist in the
Mohammed
In the Tarikh Abu'1-Wafa " wrote a commentary on the work of Diophantos concerning Algebra," (6) that Diophantos, the Greek of Alexandria, conspicuous, perfect, famous in his time, wrote a famous work on the art of
relation of a compiler to the original source.
Hokoma we
are told {a) that
'
Algebra, which has gone over into Arabic,"

lated.
i.
e.
been trans-
must obviously connect these two notices. Lastly the same work mentions (c) another work of Abu'1-Wafa, namely Proofs for the propositions given in his book by
'
We
Diophantos."
A later writer
ties,
still,
Abu'lfaraj, mentions,
the author of the History of the Dynasamong celebrated men who lived in
"
the time of Julian, Diophantos, with the addition that
His
book^..ou Algebra
is
celebrated,"
"
and again
in another place
he says upon Abu'1-Wafa,
He commented upon
the work of
Diophantos on Algebra."
The
^
notices from al-Shahrastani and Abu'lfaraj are, as I have

Bibliotheca arabico-hispana Escurialensis op. et studio Mich.
1760, gives
The work
Matriti,
Casiri,
many
important notices about mathematicians

title
from the Ta'rikh Hokoma, which Casiri denotes by the

sophorum.
Bibliotheca philo-
Cossali mentions the Ta'rikh Hokoma as having been written about a.d. 119^! by an anonymous person: "II hbro piti antico, che ci fornisca tratti relativi
all'
origine dell' analisi tra gli arabi e la Bihlioteca arabica de' jilosoji, scritta
1'
circa
anno 1198 da anonimo egiziano"
(Cossali,
i.
p. 174).
now apparently no doubt

the text.
2
that the author was al-Shahrastani, as
There is however I have said in

is
After the word
"book"
in the text
comes a word Ab-kismet which

it:
un-
intelligible.
PocoQke, the Latin translator, simply puts A. B. for
"cuius liber
The word or words are apparently Nesselmann conjectures that the original word was an Arabic translation of the Greek title, Arithmetics a supposition which, if true, would give admirable sense. The passage would then mark the Arabian perception of the discrepancy (according to the accepted meaning of termn)
A.
13.
quern Algebram vocat, Celebris est."

;
a corruption of something
between the
title
and the
subject,
which
is
obviously rather algebra than arith-
metic in the strict sense.
42
said, for
obvious reasons not so trustworthy as those in the
Fihrist.
They
are,
however, interesting as showing that Diofor
phantos continued to be kno^vn and recognised

able period after his work found
its
a consider-
way
to Arabia,
and was
commented upon, though they add nothing to our information as to what was done for Diophantos in Arabia. It is clear that the work of Abu'1-Wafa was the most considerable that was written in Arabia upon Diophantos directly ; about the obligations
to
Diophantos of other Arabian
writers,
as indirectly
shown by
3.
similarity of matter or method, without direct refer-
ence, I shall have to speak later.

I
now
pass to the writers on Diophantos in Europe.
From
the time of
Maximus Planudes
to a period as late as
about 1570 Diophantos remained practically a sealed book, and
had to be rediscovered even after attention had been invited to it by Regiomontanus, who, as was said above, was the first European to mention it as extant. We have seen (pp. 21, 22) that Regiomontanus referred to Diophantos in the Oration at Padua, about 1462, and how in a very interesting letter to
Joannes de Blanchinis he speaks of finding a MS. of Diophantos at Venice, of the pleasure he would have in translating it if he could
only find a copy containing the whole of the thirteen books, and
his readiness to translate
even the incomplete work in
six books,
in case
it
were desired.
;
But
it
does not appear that he ever
began the work it seems, however, very extraordinary that the which Regiomontanus took in Diophantos and tried to arouse in others should not have incited some of his German
interest
countrymen
to follow his leading, at least as early as
1537,
when we know
that his Oration at
Padua was
it
published.
Hard
Italian,
to account for as the fact
may
appear,
was
left for
an
Bombelli, to rediscover Diophantos about 1570; though the
mentions by Regiomontanus
may be
said at last to have borne
their fruit, in that about the
same time Xylander was en-
couraged by them to persevere in his intention of investigating Nevertheless between the time of Regiomontanus Diophantos.
and that
of Rafael Bombelli Diophantos
gotten, or rather
mentions of
tlie
was once more forunknown, for in the interval we find two name, (a) b} Joachim Camerarius in a letter

published 1556\ in which he mentions that there
is
43
a MS. of
Diophantos in the Vatican, which he
is
anxious to
see, (6)
by
the
James
who merely mentions important mathematicians who preceded

Peletarius^
Pacioli towards the
the name.
Of
taglia
Bombelli, Fra Luca end of the loth century. Cardan and Tarin the 16th, not one so much as mentions Diophantos^
The first Italian to whom Diophantos seems to have been known, and who was the first to discover a MS. in the Vatican Library, and to conceive the idea of publishing the work, was Bachet falls into an anachronism when he Rafael Bombelli. says that Bombelli began his work upon Diophantos after the
appearance of Xylander's translation*, which was published
1575.
^
in
The Algebra
of Bombelli appeared in 1572, and in the

et
De
Graecis Latinisque tiumerorum notis
praeterea Saracenis
sett
Indicts,
etc. etc.,
studio Joachimi Camerarii, Papeberg, 1556.

:
In a letter to Zasius
" Venit mihi in nientem eorum quae
et
de bac et
aliis
liberalibus artibus dicta fuere, in eo convivio cujus in tuis aedibus
me
et
Peuce-
rum nostrum
Cum autem de Diophantus Graecus nominaretur, qui extaret in Bibliotbeca Vaticana, ostendebatur turn spes quaedam, posse nobis
participes esse, suavissima tua invitatio voluit.
autoribus Logistices verba fierent, et a
me
copiam tamen
libri illius.
iiifeliciter,
Ibi ego cupiditate videndi incensus, fortasse audacius

te
non
quasi procuratorem constitui negotii gerendi, mandate

et tu libenter
illo
voluntario,
cum quidem
susciperes quod imponebatur, et fides
solenni festivitate firmaretur, de
tuo et poculo elegante ct vino optimo.
Neque tu
igitur oblivisceris ejus rei, cujus explicationem tua benignitas tibi
commisit, neque ego non meminisse potero, non

-
modo
excelleutis \-irtuti8 ct
sapientiae, sed singularis comitatis et incredibilis suavitatis tuae."
Arithmeticae practicae methodus
facilis,
per Gemmani Frisium,
etc.
Hue
accedunt Jacobi Peletarii annotationes, Coloniae, 1571.
(But pref. of Peletarius
bears date 1558.) P. 72, Nota Peletarii: "Algebra autem dicta videtur a Gebro Arabe ut vox ipsa sonat hujus artis si non inventore, saltern excultore. Alii tribuunt Diophanto cuidam Graeco."
; ''
Cossali
I.
p. 59,
si
"Cosa
pero, che reca la
somma
maraviglia
si 6,
:
che largo
fiore
in Italia
non
spandesse la cognizionc del codice di Diofanto
che in
essendovi lo studio della greca lingua, non veuisse da qualche dotto a
coman
il
1' opposto niuna menzione ne faccia Fra Luca verso niuna Cardano, e Tartaglia intorno la metA del secolo XVI che nelle biblioteche rinianesse sepolto, ed andassc dimenticato per modo, che poco prima degli anni 70 del secolo xvi si riguardasse per una scoperta 1' averlo rinvonuto nella Vaticana liiblioteca." "Non longo post Xilandrum interuallo llaphael Bombellius Bononiensis, Graecum e Vaticana Bibliotheca Diophanti codicem nactus, omnes priorum
vantaggio tradotta; che per

fine del secolo xv, e
;
quattuor librorum quaestiones, et 6 libro quinto nonuuUas, probk-matibus uiub

iuseruit, in Algebra
sua
quam
Italico
sermono conwcripsit."
44
preface to this
work
*
the author
tells
us that he had recently
discovered a Greek book on Algebra in the Vatican Library,

written by a certain Diofantes, an Alexandrine Greek author
who
lived in the time of
Antoninus Pius
that, thinking highly
of the contents of this work, he and Antonio Maria Pazzi de-
that they actually translated five termined to translate it books out of the seven into wliich the MS. was divided but that, before the whole was finished, they were called away from
;
it
by other
labours.
The date
of these occurrences
must be a
few years before 1572. Though Bombelli did not carry out his plan of publishing Diophantos in a translation, he has nevertheless
taken
all
the problems of Diophantos'

fifth,
first
four Books and

in his Algebra,
some
of those of the
and embodied them

his
interspersing
them with
own problems.
Though he has
taken no pains to distinguish Diophantos' problems from his own, he has in the case of Diophantos' work adhered pretty
closely to the original, so that
Bachet admits his obligations
to
Bombelli, whose reproduction of the problems of Diophantos he
maintains that he found in

translation'^
1
many
points better than Xylander's
It
may
be interesting to mention a few points of

tells
This book Nesselmann

it
ns that he has never seen, but takes his inforI
mation about
from Cossali.
was fortunate enough
to find a
copy of
it
published in 1579 (not the original edition) in the British Museum, the Algebra, opera d'l Rafael BomheUi da Bolorjiia diiiisa in tre Libri being
title
In
Bologna, Per Giovanni Rossi.

quotations from the preface.
MDLXXIX.
have thus been able to verify the

is
:
The whole passage
"Questi anni passati, essendosi ritrouato una opera greca di questa disciplina nella libraria di Nostro Signore in Vaticano, composta da un certo Diofante
il quale fCl a tempo di Antonin Pio, e havendo mela Messer Antonio Maria Pazzi Reggiano publico lettore delle Matematiche in Roma, e giu dicatolo con lui Autore assai intelligente de numeri (ancorche non tratti de numeri irrationali, ma solo in lui si vcde vn perfetto ordine di opcrare) egli, ed io, per arrichirc il mondo di cosi fatta opera, ci dessimo a
Alessandrino Autor Greco,

fatta vedere
lo restaute tradurlo, e cinque libri (delli sette che souo) tradutti ne habbiamo non haueudo potuto finire per gli trauagli aueuuti all' uno, e all' altro, e in detta opera habbiamo ritrouato, ch' egli assai volte cita gli Autori Indiani, col che mi ha fatto conoscere, che questa disciplina appo gl' indiani prima ih, che a gli Arabi." The parts of this quotation which refer to the personality of Diophantos, the form Diofante, &c., have already been commented upon the last clauses we shall have occasion to mention again.
; ;
'^
Continuation of quotation in note
4, p.
43
immiecuit, ut has ab
illis
"Sed suas Diophanteis quaestionibus
ita
distiu-
THE WKITKKS UPON

notation in this work of Bombclli.
Dl< )1'|IANT()S.
45
Book ii he explains that he uses the word "tanto" to denote the unknown quantity, not "cosa" like his predecessors; and his symbol for
bef,dnning of
it is i, the square of the unknown (x-) is c., the cube i; and so on. For plus and minus (pm and meno) he uses the initial letters p. and m. Thus corresponding to x + Q we should find in Bombelli 11 p. 6, and for .r + ox-4<, 11 p. 5i m. 4. This notation shows, as will be seen later, some advance upon that of Diophantos in one important respect. The next writer upon Diophantos was ^Vilhelm Holznianu who published, under the Graecised form of his name Xylander by which he is generally known, a work bearing the title
:
At
Diophanti Alexandrini
Rerum
Arithmetical' um
LibH
sex, quo-
rum primi duo

est)
adiecta hahent Scholia
Maximi
{ut coniectura
Plamtdis.
Item Liber de Numeris Polygonis seu Multan-
fectionem continens, paucis adhuc uisum.
Opus incomparahile, uerae Arithmeticae Logisticae perA Guil. Xylandro Augustano incredihili lahore Latine redditum, et Commentariui explanatum, inque lucem editum ad Illustriss. Principem Ludovicum Vuirtemhergensem Basileae per Eusebium Episcopium, et Nicolai Fr. haeredes. mdlxxv. Xylander was according to his
gulis.
own statement
a " public teacher of Aristotelian philosophy in
the school at Heidelberg\"
He was
man
of almost universal
classical litera-
culture ^ and was so thoroughly
imbued with the
ture, that the extraordinary aptness of his quotations
and his
wealth
of expression
give exceptional charm to his writing
whenever he is free from the shackles of mathematical formulae and technicalities. The Epistola Nuncupatoria is addressed to the Prince Ludwig, and Xylander neatly introduces it by the line "Offerimus numeros, numeri sunt principe digni." This He tells us how he preface is very quaint and interesting. first saw the name of Diophantos mentioned in Suida.s, and
guere non
detrahat.
stare, et
'
sit in promptu, neque vefD se fidum satis interpretem pracbuit, cum passim verba Diophanti immutet, bisque pleraque addat, plcraque pro arbitrio
In multis nihilominus interprctationem Bombellii, Xilandriana prac-
ad banc emendandam
me
adjuvisse iu(,'enue fateor."
Ad
Icctorem.
" Publicus pbilosophiae Aristoteleae in schola Hcidolbergcnsi doctor."

shall see,
- Even Bachet, who, as wo omnibus disciplinis excultus."
was no favourable
critic, calls
him " Vir
46
then found that mention had been made of his work by Regio-
montanus as being extant in an Italian Library and having been seen by him. But, as the book had not been edited, he tried to reconcile himself to the want of it by making himself acquainted with the works on Arithmetic which were actually known and in use, and he apologises for what he considers to have been a disgrace to him\ With the help of books only he studied the subject of Algebra, so far as was possible from what men like Cardan had written and by his own reflection, with such success that not only did he fall into what Herakleitos called olrjo-Lv, lepav voaov, or the conceit of " being somebody " in the field of Arithmetic and " Logistic," but others too who were themselves learned men thought him (as he modestly tells us) But when he first an arithmetician of exceptional merit.
became acquainted with the problems of Diophantos (he continues) his pride had a fall so sudden and so humiliating that he might reasonably doubt whether he ought previously to have
1
cannot refrain from quoting the whole of this passage

:
"Sed cum ederet nemo cepi desideriimi hoc paulatim eorum quos consequi poteram Arithmeticorum librorum
tionibus nostris sepelire.
in
animo
consopire, et
cognitions, et medita-
Veritatis porro apud me est autoritas, ut ei coniunctum etiam cum dedecore meo testimonium lubentissime perhibeam. Quod Cossica seu Algebrica (cum his enim reliqua comparata, id sunt quod umbrae Homeric^ in Necya ad aniniam Tiresiac) ca ergo quod nou assequebar modo,
quanquam mutis duntaxat usus preceptoribus

uariare,
caetera ai)To5/5a/cTos, sed et augers,
adeoque corrigere in loco didicissem, quae summi et fidelissimi in docendo uiri Christifer Eodolphus Silesius, Micaolus, Stifelius, Cardanus, Nonius, aliique litteris
mandauerant
incidi in otrjaiv, lepav vbaov, ut
scitfe
appel-
lauit Heraclitus sapientior multis aliis philosophis,
hoc
est, in
Arithmetica, et
uera Logistica, putaui

ubi
iisque doctis uiris iuJicatum fuit,
primum
in
me passim etiam a multis, me non de grege Arithmeticum esse. Verum Diophantca incidi ita me recta ratio circumegit, ut flenddsne
me
esse aliquid: itaque de
:
an uero ridendus fuissem, haud iniuria dubitaucrim. Operas preciuni est hoc loco et meam inscitiam inuulgarc, et Diophantei operis, quod mihi ncbulosam istam caligincm ab oculis detcrsit, immo cos in coenum barbaricum defossos eleuauit et repurgauit, gustum aliquem exhibere. Surdorum
mihi
ipsi antca,
ego
uumerorum tractationem
ita
tenebam, ut etiam addere alioriun inuentis
non poenitendum auderem, atque id quidem in rebus arithmeticis magnum habetur, et difficultas istarum rerum multos a mathematibus deterret. Quanto autem hoc est praeclarius, in iis problematis, quae surdis etiam numsris uix posse uideutur explicari, rem eo deduccre, ut quasi solum arithmeticum ucrtere iussi obsurdescant illi plane, et ne mentio quidem eorum in tractatione
aliquid
inguniosissimarum quaustiouum admittatur."
THE WRITERS
bewailed, or laughed
I'PON DlOl'llANTOS.
47
it
at himself.
He
considers
therefore
worth while to confess publicly in how disgraceful a condition of ignorance he had previously been content to live, anil to do
something to make known the work of Diophantos, which had Before this critical time he was so familiar so opened his eyes. with methods of dealing with surds that he actually had ventured
to
add something to the discoveries of others relating
to
them
these were considered to be of great importance in questions

of Arithmetic,
and their
difficulty
was of
itself sufficient to
deter
" But how much more splendid " (says Xylander) " the methods which reduce the problems which seem to be hardly capable of solution even
many from
the study of Mathematics.
with the help of surds in such a way that, while the surds, when
bidden
(so to
speak) to plough the arithmetic
soil,
become true
to their
name and deaf
to entreaty, they are not so

!
much
as
mentioned in these most ingenious solutions " He then describes the enormous difficulties which beset his work owing to the coiTuptions in his text. In dealing, however, with the mistakes and carelessness of copyists he was, as he says, no
novice; for proof of which he appeals to his editions of Plutarch,
Stephanus and Strabo.

ing,
This passage, which

I
is
delightful read-
but too long to reproduce here,

" Id uero mihi accidit
give in
full in
the note
'.
>
durum
(iu
et uix superabile
incommodum, quM
mirificft
deprauata omnia inueni, ctim neque problematum expositio interdum integra

esset, ac
passim numeri
quibus sita omnia esse in hoc arRumento, quia
problematum quam solutionum siue cxplicatiouum corruptissimi. Non pudebit me ingenue fateri, qualem me heic gesserim. Audacter, et summo cum feruore potius qusim alacritate auimi opus ipsum initio sum aggressus, laborque mihi omnis uoluptati fuit, tantus est meus rernm arithmoticarum amor, quin et gratiam magnam me apud omnes liberalium scientiarum amatores ac
ignorat?) tarn
patronos initiirum,
et
praeclare de rep.
litteraria
nierituriim
intclligebam,
(quam ii bonis profectam nemo prudens aspernatur) gloriaeque fortasse etiam emolumento fore sperabam. Progressus aliquantulum, in salebras incidi quae tantum abest ut alacritatem meam retuderint, ut etiam animos milii addiderint, neque enim mihi novum aut insolons est aduersus
eamque rem mihi

:
laudi
librariorum incuriam certamen, et hac in re militaui, (ut Horatii nostri uerbis

utar)
non sine gloria, quod me non arroganter dicere, Dio, Plutarchu.^, Strabo, Stephanusque nostri testantur. Sed cum mox in ipsum pelagus nionstris scatons me cmsus abripuit: non dcspondi equidem animum, neque manus dedi, scd
tamen saepius ad cram undo soluissem respeju, qujmi portum in quem csaet euadeudum cogitandu prospicerem, depracheudiquc non minus uerii quum ele-
48
to get possession of a
Next Xylander tells us how he came

script of Diophantos.
In October of the year 1571 he

;
manumade
a journey to Wittenberg
while there he had conversations on
mathematical subjects with two professors, Sebastian Theodoric
and Wolfgang Schuler by name, who showed him a few pages of a Greek manuscript of Diophantos and informed him that it belonged to Andreas Dudicius whom Xylander describes as
"
Andreas Dudicius Sbardellatus, hoc tempore Imperatoris Ro-
orator." On his departure from Wittenberg Xylander wrote out and took with him the solution of
manorum apud Polonos
a single problem of Diophantos, to amuse himself with on his

journey.
sis,
This he showed at Leipzig to Simon Simonius Lucen-
a professor at that place,
who wrote
to Dudicius
on his
to
behalf.
few months afterwards Dudicius sent the MS.

to persevere in his
Xylander and encouraged him

insists
undertaking
to translate the Arithmetics into Latin.
Accordingly Xylander
that
the glory
of
the whole achievement belongs in
no
less
himself.
but rather in a greater degree to Dudicius than to Finally he commends the work to the favour of the
Prince Ludwig, extolling the pursuit of arithmetical and algebraical science
and dwelling
in enthusiastic anticipation on the
influence which the Prince's patronage would
have in helpThis Epistola
ing and advancing the study of Arithmetic \

ganter ea cecinisse Alcaeum, quae
tabula scribam.
(si
possum) Latino
in
hac quasi uotiua mea
Qui uela uentis uult dare, Cautus futuri praeuideat

Cursus.
dum licet, modum
mare ingressus, marine

est.
Nauigct arbitrio necesse

Sand,
quod de Echeueide pisce fertur, eum nauim cui se adplicet remorari, poenh Expediui credibile fecit mihi mea cymba tot mendorum remoris retardata.
tamen me
ita,
ut facilS
sint incredibilem
me
laborem
omnes mediocri de et aerumnas

milii
his rebus iudicio praediti, iutellecturi

difticilimas superasso
:
pudore etiam
stimulatum oneris quod ultro
imposuissem, non perferendi.
Paucula quaeet Arith-
dam non
plane explicata, studio et certis de causis in alium locum reiecimus.

ita
Opus quidem ipsum

professuri."
'
absoluimus ut ueque eius nos pudere debeat,
meticae Logisticesque studiosi nobis se
plurimum debere
sint
baud dubie
atque glorialibi,
"Hoc non modo

;
tibi
Princeps Illustrissimc, honorificum
erit,
osum
sed tc labores nostros approbantc, arithmcticae studium
cum
tum
ad
in tua
Academia
et
Gymuasiis, excilabitur, confirmabitur, prouebetur,
et
THE WRITERS UPON DIOPIIANTOS.
49
Nuncnpatoria boars the date 14th August, 1574'. Xylandcr (lied on the 10th of February in the year following that of the publication, 1576. Some have stated that Xy lander published the Greek text of Diophantos as well as the Latin translation. There appears to be no foundation for the statement, which
probably rests on a misunderstanding of certain passages in which Xylander refers to the Greek text. It is possible that
he intended to publish the Greek original but was prevented by his death which so soon followed the appearance of his transis a sufficient proof, howêver, that if such was his was never carried out, that Bachet asserts that he himself had never seen or found any one who had ever seen such an edition of the Greek text ^ Concerning the merits of Xylander and his translation of Diophantos much has been written, and chiefly by authors who
lation.
It
it
purpose
were not weW acquainted with the subject, but whose very
ignorance seems to have been their chief incitement to startling
statements.
Indeed very few persons at
studied the book itself: a fact which

for
may
all seem to have be partly accounted
by
its rarity.
Nesselmaun, whose book appeared in 1842,

all
tells
us honestly that he has never been able to find a copy,

information on the subject
but has been obliged to take

at second
hand from Cossali and Bachet '. Even Cossali, so far as he gives any opinion at all upon the merits of the book, seems to do no more than reproduce what Bachet had said Nor does Schulz seem to have studied Xylander' before him. work at least all his statements about it are vague and may very well have been gathered at second hand. Both he and
:
perfectam
eiu.s scientiam multi tuis auspiciis, nostro labore pcrducti, niognam hac re tuis in remp. beneficiis accessionem factam esse gratissima commemora-
tione praedicabunt."
1
"Heidelberga. postrid. Eidus Sextiles cio
lo
lxxiv."
"An
vero et Graece a Xilandro editus
sit
Diophantus,
nondum
locis,
certti
com-
perire potui.
Videtur sanb in multis suorum Commcntariorum
de Graeco
Diopbanto tanquam a se cdito, vcl mox edendo, verba facere. Sed banc cditionem, neque mihi vidisse, neque aliquem qui viderit hactcnus audivisse contigit."
Bachet, Epist. ad Led.
3 There is not, I believe, a copy even in the British Museum, but I had the rare good fortune to find the book in the Library of Trinity College,
Cambridge. H. D.
50
Nesselmann confine themselves to saying that it was not so worthless as many writers had stated it to be (Nesselmann on his part confessing his inability to form an opinion for the reason that he had never seen the book), and that it was
well received
among
savants of the period, while
its effect
on
study of Algebra was remarkable \ On the other hand, the great majority of writers on the subject may be said to shout in chorus a very different cry. One
the growth of the
instance will suffice to show the quality of the statements that
of space.
have been generally made to enumerate more would be waste Dr Heinrich Suter in a History of Mathematical
:
Sciences (Zurich 1873) says^ " This translation

as Xylander
is
very poor,
was very little versed in Mathematics." If Dr Heinrich Suter had taken the trouble to read a few words of Xylander's preface, he could hardly have made so astounding
a statement as that contained in the second clause of this This is only a specimen of the kind of statements which have been made about Xylander's book indeed I have been able to find no one who seems to have adequately studied Xylander except Bachet and Bachet's statements about the work of his predecessor and his own obligations to the same
sentence.
; ;
later writers.
have been unhesitatingly accepted by the great majority of The result has been that Bachet has been universally considered the only writer who has done anything
considerable for Diophantos, while the labours of his predecessor
have been ignored or despised.

is,
This view of the relative

completely erroneous.
merits of the two authors
in
my
vieAv,
and comparison of the two editions I have come to the conclusion that honour has not been paid where honour was due. It would be tedious to give here in
careful study
1 "Wie uuvollkomiucn Xylanders Ai-beit auch ausfiel, wie oft cr Schulz. auch den rcchten Sinn verfehlte, und wic oft auch seine Aumerkuugeii den Laser, der sich Eathes eiholen will, im Stichc lasseu, so gut war dock die Aufnalimc, welche sein Uuch bei den Gelehitcn damaligcr Zcit fand; dcnn in der That giog den Matlicmatikcru durch die Erscheinung dieses Werkes ein
From a
neues Licbt auf, und es

-
ist
mir schr wabrscbcinlicb, dass er

ist
viel
dazu beigetrageu
hat, die allgemeiue Arithmetik zu ihrer nachnialigen
Hohe zu erheben."
"Dicse Uebersetzung aber
sebr schwach, da Xylander in Mathematik
sebr wenig bewaudcrt war."
THE WIUTEUS UPON DluPlIANToS.

detail the particular facts
ol
I
which led
me
to this conchision.
first
will only say in this place that
my
suspicions were
aroused
by reading Bachet's work alone, before I had seen tlie earlier From perusing Bachet I received the impression that his repeated emphatic and almost violent repudiation of obligation
one.
to Xylander,
and
his disparagement of that author suggested
the very thing which he disclaimed, that he was under too

great obligation to his predecessor to acknowledge
I
it
duly.
work itself It was the first edition published which contained the Greek text, and appeared
to Bachet's
in
must now pass
1621 bearing the

libri sex,
et
title:
Diophanti Alexandrini Anthmeticounus.

JVtoic
7-um
de numeris nndtancjulis liber
2)riinuin Graece et Latine editi, atque absolidissimis

illitstrati.
Commentariis
Auctore Claudio Gaspare Bacheto Mezinaco Sebusiano,
V.G.
Lidetiae Pansiorum, Surnptibus Hieronymi Drovart^, via
Jacobaea, sub Scuto Solari.
MDGXXI.
(I
should perhaps
mention that we have a statement^ that in Carl von Montchall's Library there was a translation of Diophantos which the mathematician "Joseph Auria of Neapolis" made, but did not apparently publish, and which was entitled "Diophanti
libri
sex,
cum
scholiis graecis
collati
Maximi Planudae, atque

this
liber de
numeris
a
polygonis,
cum
Of
Vaticanis codicibus, et latine versi
work we know nothing; neither Bachet nor Cossali mentions it. The date would presumably be about the same as that of Xylauder's translation, or a little later.) Bachet's Greek text is based, as he tells us, upon a MS. which he calls "codex Regius", now in the Bibliotheque NaJosepho Auria."
tionale at Paris;
this MS.
is
his sole authority, except
that
Jacobus Sirmondus had part of a Vatican MS. transcribed for him. He professes to have produced a good Greek text, having spent incalculable labour upon its emendation, to have inserted
1
For "surnptibus Hierouymi Drovart" Nesselinann has "surnptibus SebasCramoisy, 1021 " which
is
tiani
is
found in some copies.

I
The former
(as given
above)
taken from the title-page of the copy which
have used (from the
Library of Trinity College, Cambridge).

- Schulz, Vorr. xliii.: "Noch erwuhnen die Litteratorcn, dass eich in der Bibliothek eines Carl von Moutchall einc Bearbeitung des Diophantus von dem
beruhmten Joseph Auria von Neapel (vermuthlich doch uur handschriftUoli)

befuudeu habe, welche den Titel
I'uhrte u.
s.
w." (see Text).
52
in
brackets
all
additions which he
all
made
to
it
and
to
have
given notice of
trifling nature;
corrections, except those of an obvious or
a few passages he has left asterisked, in cases where correction could not be safely ventured upon. In spite however of Bachet's assurance I cannot help doubting the quality of his text in many places, though I have not seen the MS. which he used. He is careful to tell us what previous works relating to the subject he had been able to consult. First he mentions Xylander (whom he invariably quotes as Xilander), who had translated the whole of Diophantos, and
commented upon him throughout, "except

touched a considerable
sixth
rest of his
pai't of
that he scarcely
the
fifth
book, the whole of the
and the treatise on multangular numbers, and even the work was not very successful, as he himself admits that he did not thoroughly understand a number of points." Then he speaks of Bombelli (already mentioned) and the Zetetica of Vieta (in which the author treats in his own way a large number of Diophantos' problems Bachet thinks that he so treated them because he despaired of restoring the book completely). Neither Bombelli nor Vieta (says Bachet) made any attempt to demonstrate the difficult porisms and abstruse theorems in numbers which Diophantos assumes as known in
:
many
tions
places, or sufficiently explained the causes of his opera-
and
artifices.
All these omissions on the part of his
predecessors he thinks he
has supplied in his notes to the
various problems and in the three Books of "Porisms" which he

prefixed to the
work\
As regards
bis
Latin translation, he
says that he gives us Diophantos in Latin from the version of
know
Xylander most carefully corrected, in which he would have us that he has done two things in particular, first, corrected
^ On the nature of some of Bacliet's proofs Nicholas Saunderson (formerly Lucasian Professor) remarks in Elements of Algebra, 1740, apropos of Dioph. "M. Bachet indeed in the IGth and 17th props, of his second book of III. 17. Porisms has given us demonstrations, such as they are, of the theorems in the
problem: but in the
first
place he demonstrates but one single case of those
theorems, and in the next place the demonstrations he gives are only synthetical,
and so abominably perplexed

of
all
withal, that in each demonstration he

I
makes uso
the letters in the alphabet except

for."
and 0, singly
to represent the quantities
he has there occasion
THE WRITERS UPON DIuPllANTOS.
53
what was wrong and supplied the numerous lacunae, secondly, explained more clearly what Xylander had given in obscure or ambiguous language: "I confess however", he says "that this made so much change necessary, that it is almost more fair
to me than to Xilander. But if anyone prefers to consider it as his, because I have held fast, tooth and nail, to his words when they do not misrepresent Diophantus, I do not care'". Such sentences as these, which
to attribute the translation
are no rarity in Bachet's book, are certainly not calculated to
increase our respect for the author.
"the historian of the French
Academy
According to Montucla", tells us" that Bachet

fever,
worked at
this edition
during the course of a quartan
and
it
that he himself said that, disheartened as he was by the

culty of the work, he would never have completed
it,
diffi-
had
not been
for
the stubbornness which his malady generated iu
him.
As the
it,
first
and only edition of the Greek text
of Diofind in
phantos, this work, in spite of any imperfections
we may
does
its
author
all
honour.
The same
edition
was reprinted and published with the

Diophanti Alexandrini
itmis.
addition of Fermat's notes in 1G70.
Arithmeticorwni
lihri sex, et
de numeris multangidis liher

V. G. et ohseruationibus
Cum
commentariis
G. G.
Bacheti
D. P.
de Fermat Senatoris Tolosani.
Accessit Doctrinae Amdyticae
inuentum nouum, collectum ex variis eiusdem D. de Fermat Epistolis. Tolusae, Excudehat Bernardus Bosc, ^ Regione CuUegii Societatis Jesu, MDGLXX. This edition was not pubhshed
by Fermat
tissime
et
himself, as certain writers imply ^ but by his son

tibi
'"Deinde Latinum damus

castigata, in
Diophantum ex Xilandri versione

:
accura-
qua duo potissimum nos praestitisse scias velim, nam deprauata correximus, hiantesque passim lacunas repleuimus et quae sub-
obscure, vel ambigue fuerat interpretatus Xilander, dilucidius exposuimus; fateor
tamen, inde tantam inductam esse mutationem, vt propemodum aequius sit versioneni istam nobis quam Xilandro tribuere. Si quis autem potius ad eum \^ttinere contendat,
qu5d eius verba, quatenus Diophanto

licet."
fraudi
non
erant, niordicus
retinuimus, per
2 '
I.
me
323.
So Dr Hcinrich Suter: "Diese Am(fahe witrde 1G70 ditrch Fernuit ernnt^rt, der sie mit seinen eigenen algebraischep Untersuchungen und Erfindungen
âsstattete,"
54
after his death.
DIOPHANTOS OF AT.KXAXDRIA.
S.
Fermat
tells
us in the preface that this
publication of Fermat's notes to Diophantos was part of an
attempt to
collect together
from his
letters
and elsewhere
his
The "Doctrinae Analj'ticae Inuentum nouum" is a collection made by Jacobus de Billy from various letters which Fermat sent to him at different times. The notes upon Diophantos' problems, which his son hopes will prove of value very much more than commensurate with their
contributions to mathematics.
bulk, were (he says) collected from the margin of his copy of
Diophantos,
From
their brevity they were obviously intended
for the benefit of experts \ or
even perhaps solely
for
Fermat's
own, he being a
in the
man who
preferred the pleasure which he had
work
itself to all considerations of
the fame which might
follow therefrom.
tions,
Fermat never cared
to publish his investigaletters,
but was always perfectly ready, as we see from his
to acquaint his friends
and contemporaries with

is
his results.
Of
the notes themselves this
not the place to speak in detail.

is
This edition of Diophantos

additions in
it
rendered valuable only by the

for the rest it is a
is
due
to
Fermat;
far as
mere reprint
it is
of that of 1621.
So
the Greek text
concerned
is
very
much
inferior to the first edition.
There
a far greater
number
of misprints, omissions of words, confusions of numerals;

all,
and, most serious of
the brackets which Bachet inserted in

insertion of words in the text
the edition of 1621 to
mark the
are in this later edition altogether omitted.

tions
These imperfechave been already noticed by Nesselmannl Thus the

is
reprinted edition of 1670

^
:
untrustworthy as regards the
text.
Lectori Beneuolo, p. iii. "Doctis quibus tantum pauca sufficiunt, harum obseruationum auctor scribebat, vel potius ipse sibi scribens, his studiis exerceii
malebat quam gloriari

lucubratioues suas
adco autem
ille
ab omni ostentationo alienus

ct
erat, vt
nee
ty]iie
mandari curauerit,
suonim qiiandoquc resjionsorum

;
autographa nullo scruato exemplari pctentibus vitro miserit

rique celeberrimorum huius saeculo Geomctrarum,
iiorunt scilicet pleille et
quam
libenter
quaut&
bumanitate, sua
2
iis
inuenta patefecerit."
"Was
dieser
Abdruck an
ist
iiusserer
Eleganz gewounen hat (denn die Ba-
chet'sche
Ausgcbe
niit
ausserst unangcnehmen, nanientlich Griechischeu

sie
Lettern gedruckt), das hat

loren.
(z.
an inncrm Werthe in Bczug auf den Text ver-
Sie ist nicht bloss voller Diuckfchler in cinzelnen

ir
Worten und Zeichen

25 eine doppelt und
B. durchgehends
statt
(z.
"?>),
900) sondern audi ganze Zeilen sind ausgelassen
Oder doppelt gedruckt,
B.
iii.
12 cine Zeile doppelt,
iv,

I
55
omit here
all
upon Diophantos
Alb. Girard).
before
(e.g.
We
mention of works which are not directly the so called "Translation" by Stevin and have accordingly to pass from 1670 to 1810
work directly upon Diophantos. In 1810 was published an excellent translation (with additions)
find another extant
we
of the fragment
upon Polygonal Numbers by Poselger

iiher die Polygonal-Zahlen.
Dio-
phantus von Alexandrien

Lastly, in
Uebersetzt
mit Zusdtzen von F. Th. Poselger.

very meritorious
Leipzig, 1810.
in Berlin,
1822 Otto Schulz, professor
published a
German
translation with notes: Diupliantus
von Alexandria arithmetische Aufgahen nebst dessen Schrift iiber die Pohjgon-Zahlen. Aus dem Griechischen ilbersetzt iind mit
Anmerkungen begleitet von Otto Schulz, Professor am BerlinischColnischen Gymnasium zum grauen Kloster. Berlin, 1822. In der Schlesingerschen Buck- und Musikhandlung. The former
work of Poselger
is
with the consent of
its
author incorporated
in Schulz's edition along with his
own
translation and notes
upon the larger treatise, the Arithmetics. According to Nesselmann Schulz was not a mathematician by profession: he produced, however, a most excellent and painstaking edition, with notes chiefly upon the matter of Diophantos and not on the
text (with the exception of a very few emendations)
:
notes
which, almost invariably correct, help

author.
much
to understand the
Schulz's
translation
is
based upon the
edition
of
Bachet's text published in 1670; so that nothing has been done

for the
Greek text since the
original edition of
Bachet (1621).
have now mentioned

directly
all
the extant books which have been
Of books here omitted which are concerned with Diophantos indirectly, i.e. those which reproduce the substance of his solutions or solve his
written
upon Diophantos.
gleich hinterher eine ausgelassen, rv. 52 eine doppclt, v. 11 eine aup^'clnpsen,
desgleichen
v.
14,
2.5,
33, vi. 8, 13
und
so weiter), die Zalileu Verstiimmcit, was
aber das Aergste
ist,
die Bacbet'schen kritischen Zeicheu sind fast iiberall, die
Klammer
vcillig
durcbgtingig weggefallen, so dass diese Ausgabe als Text des Diophant

ist," p.
unbrauchbar geworden
283.
Accordingly Cantor errs when he says "Die beste Textamijabe ist die von Bachet de Meziriac mit Anmerkungen von Format. Toulouse, 1G70." (Getch.
p. 31)0.)
56
problems or the like of them by different methods a list has been given at the outset. As I have already mentioned a
statement that Joseph Auria of Naples wrote circa 1580 a
translation of Diophantos
which was found (presumably

it is
in MS.
form) in the library of one Carl von Montchall,
necessary
here to give the indications we have of

phantos.
First,
lost works upon Dioby Vossius (as some have understood him) that the Englishman John Pell wrote an unpublished Commentary upon Diophantos. John Pell was at one time a professor of mathematics at Amsterdam and gave lectures there on Diophantos, but what Vossius says about his commentary may well be only a recommendation to undertake a commentary, rather than a historical assertion of its comple-
we
find
it
asserted
tion.
Secondly, Schulz states in his preface that he had lately found a note in Schmeisser's Orthodidaktih der Mathematik that Hofrath Kausler by command of the Russian Academy pre-
pared an edition of Diophantos \
Of
this
nothing whatever
is
known;
if
ever written, this edition must have been only for
private use at St Petersburg.

I find a statement in the
New American
vol.
Cyclopaedia
(New
made
York, D. Appleton and Company),
VI.
that "a complete
translation of his (Diophantos') works into English was
by the
^
late
Miss Abigail Lousada, but has not been published."

of Schmcisser is:
"Die mechanische, geistlose Behandvon Herru Hofrath Kausler stark geriigt worden. In der Vorrede zu seiner Ausgabe des Vjlakerschen ExempcUmclis beginnt er so Seit mehreren Jahren arbeitete ich fiir die Kussisch-Kaiserliche Akademie der Wissenschaften Diophants unsterbliches Werk iiber die Arithnietik aus, und fand darin einen solchen Schatz von den feinsten, scharfsinnigsten algebraischcn Auflosungen, dass mir die mechanische, geistlose Methode der neuen Algebra mit jedem Tage mehr ekelte u. s. w.' " (p. 33.)
lung der Algebra
ist
The whole passage
ins besondere
'
CHAPTER
IV.
NOTATION AND DEFINITIONS OF DIOPHANTOS.
1.
As
it
is
my
inteution, for the sake of brevity
and
perspicuity, to
in giving
make
use of the modern algebraical notation
my
it
account of Diophantos' problems and general
methods,
will
be necessary to describe once

for
for
all
the
working out the solutions of his problems, or the notation by which he expresses the relations which would be represented in our time by algebraical
equations, the extent to which he
quantities,
is
machinery which our author uses
able to manipulate
unknown
and
so on.
Apart, however, from the necessity of
such a description for the proper and adequate comprehension

of Diophantos, the general question of the historical develop-
ment
essay,
of algebraical notation possesses great intrinsic interest.
Into the general history of this subject I cannot enter in this
my
object being the elucidation of Diophantos
I shall
accordingly in general
confine
myself to an account of his

it is
notation solely, except in so far as
interesting to compare
it
with the corresponding notation of his editors and

cases) that of other writers, as for
(in certain
example certain of the early
Arabian algebraists.
2. First, as to the representation of an unknown quantity. The unknown quantity, Avhich Diophantos calls ttXj/ô? fiovdBoiu aXoyov i.e. "a number of units of which no account is given,
or undefined "
is
denoted throughout
or in
(def.
versally printed in the editions as the
accent,
thus
?',
the
form
s'.
2) by what is uniGreek letter ? with an This symbol in verbal

i.e.
description he calls u
aptOfxo'^,
"the number"
by
inipli-
58
cation, the
number par
excellence of the
is
problem
in question.
(In the cases where the symbol
used to denote inflected
forms, e.g. accusative singular or dative plural, the terminations
which would have been added to the stem of the full word dpi6fi6<i are printed above the symbol 9 in the manner of an exponent, thus 9'' (for dpidfxov, as r' for t6v), <?", the symbol
being in addition doubled in the plural cases, thus
99'
99'',
99"'^ 99""
for dpidfjLOL K.T.X.
When
thus
the symbol
is
used in practice, the

to
coefficient is expressed
by putting the required Greek numeral

99'
immediately after
it,
Td corresponds to
11a-, 9'a
sc
and so on. Respecting the symbol

clear that, if
9'
as printed in the editions
it
is
must be different in kind from all the others described in the same definition, for they are clearly mere contractions of the corresponding names\
represents dpiOixo^, this sign
The
on
opinion which seems to have been universally held as to

text by
the
best
writers
the nature of the symbol of the
Diophantos
tell
is
that of Nesselmann and

is
Cantor ^
Both
authors
us that the final sigma
used to denote the
unknown quantity
it
;
representing upi6p6<i, the complete word for
and they imply in the passages referred to that this final sigma corresponds exactly to the x of modern equations, and that we have here the beginning of algebraical notation in the strict sense of the term, notation, that is, which is purely
conventional and shows in itself no necessary connection be-
tween the symbol and the thing denoted by it. I must observe, however, that Nesselmann has in another place ' corrected the impression which the reader might have got from the first
passage referred
dpi6fji6<;
to,
that he regarded the use of the sign for
as a step towards genuine algebraical notation.

that,
He
makes the acute observation
as
the symbol occurs in
many
places
where
it
represents dpidfio^ used in the ordinary

is
untechnical sense, and

designate the
all
therefore
not exclusively used

the
technical
dpi6fi6<i,
to
it
unknown
quantity,
must
'
!
after
be more of the nature of an abbreviation than

kvôs, dwafioSufafxis, &c.
Vide infra S", k", 55", &c. contractions for Suva/jLi^, Nesselmann, pp. 290, 291. Cantor, p. 400.
pp. 300, 301,
NOTATION AND DEFINITIONS OF DIOPHANTOS.

an algebraical symbol.
correct
;
59
This view
:
is,
think,
undoubtedly
but the question now arises
bow can
the final signia

?
of the
Greek alphabet be an abbreviation
for dpiOfio^
The
difficulty of
answering this question suggests a doubt which, so far as I am aware, has been expressed by no writer upon Diophantos up to the present time. Is the sign, which Bachet'.s
gives
as
text
a final sigma, really the final sigma at

to
9
all ?
Nesselmann and Cantor seem never

they both assign a reason
designation of the
why unknown
the final
have doubted was appropriated

it
it,
for
for
the
quantity,
namely that
to
was the
princi-
only letter of the Greek alphabet which was not already in

use as a numeral.
pally
The question was suggested

final sigma,
9,
me
by the doubt whether the

cr
was developed
as distinct from the form
as early as the date of the MS. of
Diophantos which Bachet used, or rather as early as the first copy of Diophantos, for the explanation of the sign is given
by the author himself

in
in the text of the

if
second definition.\
This being extremely doubtful,
not absolutely impossible,
what way
is its
representation as a final sigma in Bachet's
? The MS. from which Bachet edited Greek text is in the Bibliotheque Natiouale, Paris, and I have not yet been able to consult it but, fortunately, in a paper
text to be accounted for

his
by M. Kodet
the
in the Journal Asiatique (Janvier 1878), I found
certain passages quoted
by the author from Diophantos

These passages M, Rodet
tells
for
purpose of comparison with the algebra of
Mohammed
us that
ibn Musti Al-Kharizmi.
he copied accurately from the identical MS. which Bachet used. On examination of these passages I found that in all but two
cases of the occurrence of the sign for as the final sigma.
(ipi6/j.6<;
it
was given
for
In one of the other cases he writes
6 dpiOfiof (in this instance untechnical) the abbreviation o
d\
and in the other case we find ijTj"' for dpt6fj.oi In this last place Bachet reads 99'. But the same symbol cji|" which M. Rodet
gives
is
actually found in three places in Bachet's
own
edition.
he gives a reading from his MS. which he has corrected in his own text and in which thr signs i\d and qi|^ occur. They must here necessarily signify npidp.6<i d and
(1) In his note to iv. 3
dpidfiol
7)
respectively because, although
tlic
sense
rcciuire.s
GO
1
the notation corresponding to -
not
x, 8x,
we know, not
only from Bachet's direct statement but also from the translation of certain passages
is
by Xylauder, that the sign
for dpi6fjb6<;
in the MSS. very often carelessly written for dpid/MoaTov

(2)
and
In the text of iv. 14 there is a sentence (marked by Bachet as interpolated) which has the expression ij? where again the context shows that i|L| is for dpcO/xoL (3) At the
its sign.
l|
beginning of
MS. reads 6
v.
12 there
is
a difficulty in the text; and Bachet

l|... where a Vatican Xylander also notes
notes that his MS. has o SfjrXaaifoi' avroO

hijfkaa-iwv
avrov
dpLdjjiov...
that his MS. had
that the MS. which
avrov ap.... It is thus clear Bachet used sometimes has the sign for dpiOfMo^; in a form which is at least sufficiently like q to be taken for it. This last very remarkable variation as combut oq refepared with 9?' seemed at first sight inexplicable rence to Gardthausen, Griechische Falaeur/raphie, I found under
firjTe o hiir\.aaL(ov
;
the head
"
hieroglyphisch-conventionell
for dpidfio'^, dpiO^JbOL,
an abbreviation 9, 9^ which the author gives as occurring in

'.
"
The same statement is made MS. of Euclid by Lehmann'^ {Die tackygraphischen Ahkurzungen der griechischen Handscltriften, 1880) who names as a sign for dpcdîo^,
the Bodleian
found in the Oxford MS. of Euclid, a curved line similar to

that used as an abbreviation for Kai
is
He
adds that the ending

is
placed above
it,
and the simple sign

is
doubled
for
the
plural.
Lehmann's facsimile of the sign
like the form given
by Gardthausen, except that the angle in the latter is a little more rounded by Lehmann. The form ijq' above mentioned as given by M. Rodet and Bachet is also given by Lehmann with a remark that it seems to be only a modification of the other. If we take the form as given by Gardthausen, the change
necessary
is
the
very slightest possible.

abbreviation
2, 30.
Thus by assuming
it
is
this conventional
for
dpi,6/j.6<i
easy
to see
D'Orvillo MSH. X. 1 inf.

p. 107:
"
"Von
Sigeln, welchcn ich
uennen
Kal
apiOixb^,
das in der Oxfordcr Euclidhandsclirift

Schlangenlinie
audi nnderwarts begegnet bin, sind zu niit eiucr der Note

Die
ahnlichen
bezeicbuet wird.
Enduug wird
dariiber
gesetzt, zur
Bezejchuung des Plurals wird das ejnfache Zeichen verdoppelt,"
NOTATION AND DEFINITIONS OF DIOrHANTOS.
01
how
also it
was thought by Bachet to be a final sigma and Iwiw might be taken for the isolated form given by M. Rodet. As I have already implied, I cannot think that the symbol
it
That the conand the sign in Diophantos are identical is, I think, certain; and that neither of the two is a final sigma must be clear if it can be proved that one of them is not. Having consulted the Ms. of the first
is
used by Diophantos
really a final sigma,
9.
ventional
abbreviation
in
the
Euclid
MS.
ten problems of Diophantos in the Bodleian Library, I conclude

that the symbol in this work cannot be a final sigma for the
following reasons. (1) thus, '<^ for dpcdfMO'i;
The
sign in the Bodleian MS.
is
written
and though the final sigma is used universally in this MS. at the end of words there is, besides a slight difference in shape between the two, a very distinct
difference in size, the sign for
larger.
dpc6/ji6<:
being always very
much
There are some cases in which the two come close together, e.g. in the expression eh '<^ Tee, and the difference is very strongly marked. (2) As I have shown, the breathing is
prefixed before the sign.
This, I think, shows clearly that the
letters be-
symbol was regarded as an abbreviation of certain

ginning with a the
first letter
of dpiO/xo^.
It is interesting also
to observe that in the Bodleian MS. there are certain cases in
which dpcdfio^ in
its
untechnical, and
dpt0fj,6<;
in its technical
sense follow each other as in eraâ to tov Seurepov 'S^ dptdfiov
what might be expected) the sign is dpidfjio'i and the other is written in full. This is a very remarkable piece of evidence to show that the sign is an abbreviation and in no sense an algebraical symbol. More remarkable still as evidence of this view is the fact that in the same MS. the luord dpi6fi6<; in the definition
et'o's,
where (contrary
to
used for the untechnical
Be
firjBeu
tovtcop
toov
ISicofjidTayv
Kr'r}adfievo<;...e-)(Oiv
he...
dpidfjb6<; KaXeiTUL is itself
denoted by the symbol, so that
in
the MS. there
is
absolutely no difference between the full
name
?
and the symbol.
My
conclusion therefore being (1) that the sign given as
in Bachet's text of
(2) that it is
Diophantos
is
not really
tlic
final
.sigma,
an abbreviation of some kind
for
dpiOfMot, the
?
question arises.
How
was
this abbreviation arrived at
If
it is
62
its
uot a hieroglyph (and I have cot yet found any evidence of

hieroglyphic origin), I would suggest that
be
it
might very well

of the
a corruption, after combination, of

Before I go on to state
the
two
first letters
word, Alpha and Rho.

contraction
its
may
liave
come about,
when and how I conceive this I may observe that, given
possibility,
its
my
supposition
(1) It
thing in
favour.
has, it seems to me, everywould explain, and is countenanced
M. Kodet's transcription of the would also explain the remarkable variation in the few words quoted from Xylander's note on These words are v. 12, fMT]T 6 hiTrKaaioiv avTov ap fio a... important because in no other sentence which he quotes in
by, the solitary occurrence in
a*.
contraction
(2)
It
the
Greek does any abbreviation of

is
dpt9iJL6<i
occur.
As
his
work
a Latin translation he rarely quotes the original Greek
at all:
dpi6fx6(;
hence we might have doubted whether the sign for occurred in his MS. in the same form as in Bachet's.
did occur in the same form
III.
is, however, clear from the 12\ That is to say, both ap and <h are used in one and the same MS. to signify apt^/xo?. This circumstance is easily explained on my hypothesis and I do not see how it can be explained on any other. But (3) the most important advantage
That
it
note to
that
my
theory would hav
is
that
it
would establish uniformity
It between the different abbreviations used by Diophantos. would show him to have proceeded on one invariable principle in fixing those abbreviations
expected to be
parallel.
Diophantos, in
all
fi.
which we should naturally have fact, appears to have

cases the first letter of the
proceeded thus.
He
took in
i.e.
corresponding words
a, B, k,
Then, as these could not be

all
used alone for the reason that they
represented numbers, he
added another
letter to each.
letter in each of the four
Now, as it happened, the second words named occurred later in the
evidently occurred wrongly instead of the sign for the was commonly the case in the mss.), for after stating that the context showed the reading apidfids to be wrong Xy lander says: "Est sane in Graeco nota senarii S". Sed locum habere non potest." Now s and r are so much alike that what was taken for one might easily be taken for the
1
In
tills
problem
it
fraction apiOfioarbv (as
other.
NOTATION AND DEFINITIONS OF

alphabet than the respective
first letters.
/i
Dl< )|'HANToS.
Q:)
B with V added, k with v added, and
Thus a with p addctl, with o added gave abbrein the
viations luhich could not he confounded with particidar numbers.
No
doubt,
line
same
if the two letters in each case were not written by Diophantos, but the second raised above the
other,
the signs might, unless they or the separate letters were dis-
tinguished by some special marks, have been confused with
numerical fractions.
this
;
There would however be

it
little
danger of
the
such confusion would be very unlikely to
arise, for (a)
context would nearly always render

(6)
impossible, as also would
the constant recurrence of the same sign for a constantly

if
recurring term, coupled with the fact that,

occasion
it
on any particular
denoted a numerical
fraction, it could
and would
/c", /i
naturally be expressed in lower terms.
Thus,
if 8",
were
numerical fractions, they would be as unlikely to be written thus

as
we should be
unlikely to write -^,
^,
^.
Indeed the
only sign of the four which, written with the second letter
placed as an exponent to the second, could reasonably be supposed
to represent a numerical fraction
is a",
which miglit mean

is
yi^.
;
But, by a curious coincidence, confusion
avoided in this case
and the contraction, which I suppose to have taken place, might very well be an expedient adopted for the purpose thus we may have here an explanation why only one of the four signs ap, 3u, Kv, fio is contracted, (4) Again, if we assume <^ to be a
:
contraction of ap,
mark
letter
cases
we can and number
explain the addition of terminations to

in the place
is
where the second
letter of
the other abbreviations
written.
The
sign '<^
having no
superposed originally, this addition of terminations was
rendered practicable without resulting in any confusion.

its
On
clear
far
convenience
it
is
unnecessary to enlarge, because

full
it is
that the symbol could then be used instead of the
word
more frequently than the others. Thus oblique cases of Bvvafii'i are written in full where oblique cases of apidfi6<; would be abbreviated. For 8", /c", fi did not admit of the addition of terminations without possible confusion and certain clumsiness.
few words will suffice to explain
my
views concerning the

alternatives
evolution of the sign for dpid^xo^.

possible.
(1)
There are two
Diophantos may not himself have made the con-
64
traction at all
;
DTOPHANTOS OF ALEXANDRIA.
he
may have
written the two letters in
full.
In
that case I suppcse the sign to he a cursive contraction used by

scribes.
I conceive it
tolerably obvious intermediate form,

to either of the
is
would then have come about through a 'p. The change from this
in MSS, for dpid/j-o^;
two forms of the symbol used
very slight, in one case being the loss of a stroke, in the

p.
other the loss of the loop of the
(2)
Diophantos
may have
used a sign approximately,
if
not exactl}^ like the form which
we now
"
find in
the MSS.
writing into two kinds, which he calls
Minuskelcursive."
Gardthausen divides cursive " Majuskelcursive " and One or other of these terms would be
Now
applied to a type of writing according as the uncial or cursive
element predominates.
dominates
is
That in which the uncial element prethe " Majuskelcursive," which is intermediate be-
tween the uncial and the cursive as commonly understood. Gardthausen gives examples of MSS. which show the gradations through which writing passed from one to the other. Among
the siêcimens of the
"
Majuskelcursive
is
"
writing he mentions
A.D., i.e. earlier
a Greek papyrus, the date of which

the time of Diophantos.
for the
154
than
From
this MS.
two
letters
the
way
in
a and p, namely up. which Diophantos wrote the symbol
he quotes a contraction This may very well be

;
and, after
being copied by a number of scribes successively,

easily
it
might very
come
into the MSS.
which we know in the slightly simplified
form in which we find it\

1
Much
of
what
I
have written above concerning the symbol for dpi6/MS
appeared in an article
phantos," which
pp. 107
"On
a point of notation in the Arithmetics of Dio-
113).
contributed to the Journal of Philolofjy (Vol. xin. No. 25, Since that was written I have considered the subject more
thoroughly, and I have been able to profit by a short criticism of

as propounded in the article alluded to, by
my
theory,
Mr James Gow
in his recent History
of Greek Mathematics (Camb. Univ. Press, 1884). In the Addenda thereto Mr Gow states that he does not think my suggestion that the supposed final
sigma
is
a contraction of the
first
two
letters of apiOfi-os is true, for three reasons.
It is right that I
should answer these objections in this place.

contraction
I will take
them
in order.
1.
Mr Gow argues: "The
must be supposed
s
to be as old as
the time of Diophantus, for he describes the symbol as tA
instead of
to,
or
Tw
ap.
Yet Diophantus can hardly
(as
Mr Heath
remark that
admits) have used cursive

I
characters."
Upon
this objection I will
do not think the descrip-
NOTATION AND DEFINITIONS OV DMniANToS.

In the following paqês, as
it
is
C".
impossible to say for

it
is
cort;iin
what
this sign really
is,
I shall
not hesitate, where
neces-
tion of the
symbol as to
proves that the supposed contraction must be ns

I see
Kal
oM
as the time of Piophantos himself.

liimself shoiikl not
to
no reason, even, why Diophnnfoi

cnjfxe'ov
have written
lanv avrov
to dp.
For
(a)
it
seems
me most natural tliat the article should be in the same number as Mr Gow might, I think, argae with equal force that the Greek should
((TTiv
ffrniuoy.
run, kcI
wuTov
ar]/M7a
ra dp.
And
yet
o-nixeTov
is
not disputed.
Saj)posing, then.
that
1(
we have assumed on other grounds that Diophantos used

contracted or uncontracted, of apiOp.6i as his symbol for
the
I
first
two
tters,
it,
do not seo
that the use of the article in the singular constitutes any objection to our
assumption.
(Ji)
Besides the censideration that to dp

its
is
perfectly possible
grammatically, we have yet other evidence for
possibility in expressions
which we actually find in the
text.
The symbol
for the fifth
power of the
unknown, or
twiarjixov
for 5vvaiJ.6Kvôs,
is
described thus:
Kal {<xtiv avrov arjftuov t6 ii
dp should
5k
/^cra v, ok". In this case much more than in the supposed case of we have expected the plural article with 5k instead of the singular but
;
iTria-rjfiov
?xo'to
i*
is
in apposition with ok"
and
is
looked upon as a single

If
expression,
and therefore preceded by the singular

it
article to.
we
give full
weight to these considerations,
must, I think, be admitted that
Mr Gow's
conclusion that the contraction must be as old as the time of Diophantoa,
whether true or not,

bodied in
is
certainly not established by his

r.
argument from the
description of the symbol as tA
Mr Gow's
appeai-s
to
first
Hence, as one link in the reasoning emobjection fail=;, the olijection itself breaks down.
Mr Gow
have misunderstood
me
w^hen he attributes to
me
tlic
inconsistency of supposing Diophantos to have used cursive characters, while

in another place I
clear from the explanation
had disclaimed such a supposition. It will be sufficiently which I have given of the origin of the contraction
At the same time meaning may be due
it
that I
as
am
very far from assuming that Diophantos used cursive characters such
in writing Greek.
it is
we now use
possible that
Mr Gow's
apparent mistake as to
glyph (and
thifs),
my
to
my own
.inadvertence in
is
saying (in the article above-mentioned) "If

I
[the symbol]
not a hiero-
have not found any evidence of

it
its
hieroglyphic origin), I would

letters
suggest that
might very well be a corruption of the two

I
where, however,
did not
mean
the cursive letters any
dp" (printed more than
uncials.
2.
now
pass to
Mr Gow's
second objection to
my
theory.
is
"The
It is
abbreviation
s for dpi.0p.6s
in its ordinary sense
very rare indeed.
not found in the mss. of Nicoraachus or Pappus, where it might most It may therefore be due only to a scribe who had some readily be expected. reminiscence of Diophantus." The meaning of this last sentence does not seem
quite clear.
it
presume
I
Mr Gow
to
mean "/h
I
the rare cases where
it
does occur,
may
be due, &c."
do not know that

I
dpiOixos is of
Still
very frequent occurrence in

(,,
concerned to prove that to" for mss. other than those of Diophanlon.
in stating to be the
am
the form
which
have no hesitation
lis.
same as
t-,.
occurs often enough in the Oxford
of Euclid to
make Gardthausen and

J
H. D.
CG
sary to designate
it,
to call it the final
sigma
is
for convenience'
Lebmann
notice
it.
And, even
if its
use in that ms.
due
to a scribe
wbo bad
tliis
some reminiscence
of Diophantos, I do not see that this consideration affects si^n
my
tbeory in the least. In fact, it is not essential for my theory that should occur in a single instance elsewhere than in Diophantos. It
is really
its
quite sufficient for

ordiiKn-y sense,
3.
my
I
purpose that o," occurs in Dioi>hantos for apiOfwi in
which
hold that
have proved.
is
Mr Gow's
full
tliird
objection
stated thus:
"If
is
for dp. then, by
symbol should be s' (like 5", k'") and not j." (a) I must first remark that I consider that arguments from analogy are inapplicable in The fact is that there are some points in which all the five signs of this case. which I have been speaking are undoubtedly analogous, and others in which some are not; therefore to argue from analogy here is futile, because it would be equally easy to establish by that means either of two opposite conclusions. I might, with the same justice as Mr Gow, argue backwards that, since there
analogy, the
is
undoubtedly one point in which
and
5" are
not analogous, namely the

a result which,
if
superposition in one case of terminations, in the other case of the second letter
of the word, therefore the signs
must be
differently explained
(b)
so far as
force of
it
goes,
would favour
my
view,
Besides, even that

s'
we admit the
Mr Gow's argument by
analogy,
is it true
(on the supposition

s
that
is for dp) is
analogous to 5" at all?
I think not; for
does not corres-
pond to 5, but (on my supposition) to 8v, and I only partially corresponds to v, inasmuch as is the tliinl letter of the complete word in one case, in the other (c) As a matter of fact, however, I maintain that my is the second letter, suggestion does satisfy analogy in one, and (I think) the most important respect, namely that (as I have above explained) Diophantos proceeded on one and the same system in making his abbreviations, taking in each case the two first letters of the word, the only difference being that in one case only are the two letters contracted into one sign. Let us now enquire whether my theory will remove the difficulties stated by Mr Gow on p. 108 of his work. As reasons for doubting whether the symbol for dpid/xoi is really a final sigma, he states the following. "It must be remembered (1) that it is only cursive Greek which has a final siijma, and that the cursive
t
i;
:
form did not come into use
till
the 8th or 9th century

s'
(2)
that inflexions are
and that his other symbols The objection (1) might be disposed (except f) are initial letters or syllables. of by the fact that the Greeks had two uncial sigmas C and 1, one of which might have been used by Dioi)hantus, but I do not see my way to dismissing
appended to Diophantus' symbol
(e.g. s", ssS etc.),
objection (2)."
First,
with regard to objection

s, it
(1)
Mr Gow
it
rightly says that,
supposing the sign were really
would be possible
to dismiss this objection.

:
On my
tlieory,
however,
it is
not necessai-y even to dismiss

(2).
it
does not exist.
"Diophantus' other symbols "Inflexions (except /;>) are inititil letters or syllables." I answer "So is to." are appended to Diophantus' symbol s'." I answer "True; but the nature of the sign itself made this convenient," as I have above explained.
Secondly,
my
theory will dismiss objection
NOTATION AND DKriNITIoNS uV

sake, subject to the
subject.
3.
)li
.pll
VNToS.
CyJ
remarks which
have here ma^le on the
to express the different
Next, as regards the notatiou Avhich Diupliaiitus used powers of the unknown quantity, i.e.
corresponding to
is
called
B".
tion*
x^, x^ and so on. The square of tlie unknown by Diophantos SviafiK: and denoted by the abbreviaNow tiie word Bvvafiiq ("power") is commonly used in
Greek to express a square number. The first occurrence of the word in its technical sense is probably as early as the second
B.C. Eudemos uses it in quoting from Hippokrates (no doubt word for word) who lived about that time. The dilBference iu use between the words Bvvafj.i<; and
half of the fifth century
TTpnycovo<i
corresponds, in Cantor's
view^, to the difference
l)etween our terms "second power" and "square" respectively,

first having an arithmetical signification as referring to a number, the second a geometrical reference to a plane surfacearea. The difference which Diophantos makes in their use is, however, not of this kind, and Sui/a/i/.? in a geometrical sense, is not at all uncommon; hence the correctness of Cantor's suggestion is not at all certain. Both terms are used by Diophantos, but in very different senses. hvvafii<i, as we have said, or the contraction 8" stands for the second power of the unknown quantitt/. It is the square of the unknown, apidfio'i or '<h, only and is never used to express the square of any other,
the
i.e.
Diophantos uses
For the square of any known number The higher powers of the unknown quantity which Diophantos makes use of he calls Kvfio<:, any known number.
TeTpdj(ovo<;.
BvvafioSvva/jic<;, Bvva/j,6Kvô<;, KVfS6Kv/3o<i,
corresponding respec-
tively to x^,
X*,
x\
a.".
Beyond the
for higher
sixth
power he does not
go,
having no occasion
1
powers in the
mark over
in the
.solutions of his
it is
I should observe with respect to the

text of
the v that
given in the
Greek
Bachet as a circumtiex accent printed

later
form ~.
By
writers
on Diophantos
5".
than Bachet the sign has been variously printed as

it
3", a"
or
have generally denoted
by
quoting or referring to writers
who
except in a few special cases, when use either of the other forms. The same
5",
the abbreviation for ixovdSn, as well as to the circumflex written above the denominators of Cheek numerical fractions piven in this
remark applies
to
/tt,
chapter as examples from the text of Diophantos.

'
Gesrhichte der Mtitheiiuitik, p. 178.
GS
problems.
S/c",
DIOPH\NTOS OF ALEXANDRIA.
For these powers he uses the abbreviations k^, ht'\ There is a difference between Diophantos' use of the complete words for the third and higher powers and that of Bvvafit<;, namely that they are not always restricted like Bvvafxt<; to powers of the unknown, but may denote powers of This is probably owing to ordinary known numbers as well. the fact that, while there are two words hvvafii<i and TeTpdywvo^ which both signify "square", there is only one word for a third
kkP respectively.
power, namely kvô'?.

the abbreviations
",
It is important,
8S", 8/c",
/c/c"
however, to observe that
are, like Bvva/j,i<i
and
S", onlij
used to denote powers of the unknown. It is therefore obviously inaccurate to say that Diophantos "denotes the square
of a
only
number number
{hvvajxi^)
by
S",
the cube by
",
and
so on", the
9'
of which this could be said being the
{dpi,6fM6<;)
of the particular problem.
The
coefficients
which the different
powers of the unknown have are expressed by the addition of the Greek letters denoting numerals (as in the case of dpidfj.o'i
itself),
thus Sk^ kW corresponds to 26ir^

8"
Thus
in Diophantos'
system of notation the signs
and the
rest represent not
merely
the exponent of a power like the 2 in x^, but the whole expression, x\ There is no obvious connection between the symbol
tween
and the symbol 9' of which it is the square, as there is bex^ and X, and in this lies the great inconvenience of the But upon this notation no advance was made by notation. They wrote N Xylander, or even by Bachet and Fermat. (abbreviation of Numerus) for ?' of Diophantos, Q {Quadratas) for 8", C for " (cubus) so that we find, for example, \Q\oN='l^f,
S"
corresponding to x^
-\-
5x= 24.
Thus these
writers do in fact no
more than copy Diophantos.
We do, however, find other symbols
used even belore the publication of Xylander's Dioiiliantos, e g. Bombelli denotes the in 1572, the date of Bombelli's Algebra.
unknown and its powers by the symbols i, t, ^, and so on. But it is certain that up to this time the common symbols had
been Ji {Radix or Res), Z {Zensus i.e. square), C {Cuhvs). Apparently the first important step towards x'^, x^ &c. was taken by Vieta, who wrote Aq, Ac, Aqq, &c. (abbreviated fur A quadratus and so on) for the powers of A. This system,
besides showing in itself the connection between the difforfut.
NOTATION AND DEFINITIONS OF DIOI'HANTOS.

powers, has the infinite advantage that by
use in one and the
quantities.
GO
means of it we can same solution any number of unknown
This is absolutely impossible with the notati(.n used by Diophantos and the earlier algebraists. Diophantos does in fact never use more than one unknown quantity in the
solution of a problem,
namely the
apLdfi6<i ur
<;'
Diophantos has no symbol for the operation of multiplication: it is rendered unnecessary by the fact tiiat his coefficients are all definite numerals, and the results are simply put down without any preliminary step wdiich would make a symbol essential. On the ground that Diophantos uses only
4.
numerical expressions for coefficients instead of general symbols,

it
would occur to a superficial observer that there must be a
great want of generality in his methods, and consequently that

these, being (as
might appear) only applicable to the particular numbers which the author uses, are necessarily interesting only as clever puzzles, but not general enough to be valuable to the
serious student.
place, it
To
this
objection I reply that, in
the
first
was absolutely impossible that Diophantos should have used any other than numerical coefficients for the reason that the available symbols of notation were already employed, the letters of the Greek alphabet always doing duty as numerals,
with the exception of the
final
<?,
which Diophantos was supposed

quantity.
to have used to represent the
unknown
In the second
place T do not admit that the use of numerical coefficients only
makes
seen
his 'solutions
any the
to
to
less general.
This will be clearly
when
methods.
come Next as
I
give an account of his problems ami
Diophantos' symbols for the operations
of Addition and Subtraction.
For the former no symbol
at all
is
used:
it is
expressed by mere juxta-position, thus
K^dh^lyî
corresponds to x^
is
+ V^x" + ox.
In this expression, however, there
no absolute term, and the addition of a simple numeral, as for instance /3, directly after e, the coefficient of vv, would cause confusion. This ."act makes it necessary to have some term to
indicate an absolute term in contradistinction to the variable
For this purpose Diophantos uses the word ôvdha, or and denotes them after his usual manner by the abbreviation lA?. The number of monads is expressed as a c<offiiipnf.
terms.
units,
Thus correspouding
to the above expression x^ i-ISou^
+ 5x+
we should
find in
Diophantus
''
8"
r-y
99 e
fi
$.
As Bachet
uses the sign
+ for addition, he has no occasion for a distinct symbol to mark an absolute term. He would accordingly write
IC +1'3Q + 5X+2.
Italians
first
It is
worth observing, however, that the
namely (Xumero), the power of the unknown being with them li (Rudice). Cossali* makes an interesting comparison between the terms used by Diophantos for the successive powers of the unknown and those employed by the Italians after their instructors, the Arabians. He observes that Fra Luca, Tartaglia, and Cardan begin their scale of powers from the power 0, not from the power 1, as does Diophantos, and compares the scales thus
do use a symbol
in this case,
Scala Diojantea.
1
Sc((la Anibii.
Numero.
Censo.
.il
Noto.
X
X.!' .T^
1.
Numero... riguoto.
Podesta.
Ciibo.
2.
:?.
Cosa, Radice, Lato.
2.
'6.
4.
5.
C).
Cubo.
4. 5.
Podesta-Podesta.
Censo Ccuso
di
Censo.
^5 x* x7
.1-8
Podesta Cubo.
Eelato V.
di
6.
Cubo-Cubo.
7.
Cubo, o Cubo
di
Censo.
7 8
[)
S.
1).
Relato2.
Censo
di
di
Censo
Cujo.
di Ceuso.
.1-9
10.
Cubo
and so on. So far, however, as this is meant to be a comparison between Diophantos and the early Arabian algebraists themselves (as the title Scala Araba would seem to inply), there
appears to be no reason
why
Cossali should not have placed

fiovdBe<i
some term
1, 2, 3, S:c.
to
express Diophantos
scale,
iu
the
with Numero in the other
and moved
first
tlie
one place upwards in the
scale, or
same line numbers downwards
comparison of the Diophantiue with the Arabian scale Cossali remarks: "ma egli non ha riflettuto a due altre diflerenze tra le scale medesime. La prima si e, che laddove Diofanto denomina con singolarita Numero 11 numero ignoto, denominanJo Monade il numero dato di compara'
Upon
Wallis'
zione
gli
antichi italiani degli arabi seguaci
e Radice, o IjuIo, o
comincia
risaltino
la
coiiiinciano
all"
denominano questo il Numero numero sconosciuto. La scconda e, che Diofanto scala dal numero ignoto; e Fra Luca, Tartaglia, Cardano la indal numero noto. Ecco le due scale di rincontro, onde meglio
;
Cosa
il
occhio
le
diffcrcnzc loro."
i.
p.
I'.lo.
NOTATION AND DEFINITIONS

in tlie secoiul.
<K
l)It>l'IfANT(s.
71
sixtli
As Diopliantos does nut go "beyond

tirst
the
power, the hist three phices in the
scale are left blank.
An
examination of these two scales

for
will
show
also that the
generation of the successive powers
dirt'ers in
the two systems.
The Diophantine terms

cube" means
them
are based on the addition of
exponents, the Arabic on their multipliaition \

in ])iophantos of, in the Italian
Thus the "cube-
and Arabic system The first method of generation may (says Cossali) be x". described as the method by which each power is represented
by the product of the two lesser powers which are nearest to it, the method of viidtiplication ; the second the method of elevation, i.e. the method which forms by raising to the second or third power all powers which can be so formed, or the îh,
Cth, 8th, 9th, &c.
so
formed are called in Italian Relati.
The intermediate powers which cannot be Thus the fifth power is
Relato 1", x' is Relato 2", a-'" is Censo di Relato 1", .r" is Relato 3", and so on. Wall is calls these powers supevsolida, reproduced by Montucla as sursolides. For Subtraction Diophantos uses a symbol. His full terra for Negation is Xei-\\r.<;, corresponding to inrapî<i, which denotes the opposite. Thus Xeiylrei (i.e. with the want of) stands for
minus, and the symbol used to denote
inverted
i/r
it
in
the MSS.
yfr
is
an
or
>>jt)
(Def. 9 /cat t^? Xet>|re&)9 (njfietov
X\nre<i
Kara) vevov
with the top shortened.
As Diophantos
uses
no distinct sign
together
after
for +, it is clearly necessary, to avoid confusion,
that all the negative terms in an expression should be placed

all
the positive
terms.
And
to x^
so
in
fact
he
1,
does place
them^
Thus corresponding
ox'
Sx
There is at least 1 This statement of Cossali's needs qualification however. one Arabian algebraist, Alkarkhi, the author of the Fakhri referred to above de(pp. 24, 25), who uses the Diophantine system of powers of the unknown pending on the additioji of exponents. Alkarkhi, namely, expresses all powers of the unknown above the third by means of nUil, his term for tlie square, and ka% his term for the cube of the unknown, as follows. The fourth power is
with hun mdl mdl, the
fifth null Jca'b,
the sixth ka'b ka'b, the seventh null mal
ninth ka'b ka'b ka'b, and bo on. Dr Heinrich Suter however has the erroneous statement that Diopliantos " ij ^ M '. which is exactly what h would express j?-5x^ + 8.r - 1 by k" d
ka'b, the eighth nial ka'b ka'h, the
/A
would not do.
72
DIOPHANTOS OF ALEXANDKIA.
"
Diophantos would write
s"'
?;
>//v
S" e
d.
With
respect
and described as an inverted truncated \\r, I must here observe tliat I do not believe it to be what it is represented as being. I do not believe that Diophantos used so fantastic a sign for minus as an inverted truncated In the first place, an inverted -^^ seems too curious a sign, and too far-fetched. To one wlio was looking for a symbol to express mimis many others more natural
to this curious sign, given in the MSS. as
-v/r.
and
less
fantastic than
j/v
must have suggested themselves.

-x/r,
{Secondly, given
that
it
?
Diophantos used an inverted

expected
it
why
it,
should he truncate
sary
;
Surely that must have been unnecesunless, without
Ave could
hardly have
confusion was likely to arise; but
could hardly have been
confused with anything.

tion throws
It
seems to
me
that this very truncait
doubt on the symbol as we find

is
in the MS.
Hence
it
believe
that the conception of this symbol as an
inverted truncated -^
as such
is
a mistake, and that the description of

;
not Diophantos' description
it
appears to
me to
be
an explanation by a scribe of a symbol which he did not understand*. It seems to me probable that the true explanation is
the following
:
Diophantos proceeded
in this case as in
the others
which we have discussed (the signs for apt^/xd?, ^vvaiJii<;, etc.). As in those cases he took for his abbreviation the first letter of the word with such an addition as would make confusion with
numbers impossible (namely the second letter of the word, which in all happens to come later in the alphabet than the
corresponding
\et>|rt9
first
first
letter),
so,
in seeking
an abbreviation
Xtir,
for
and cognate
inflected
forms developed from

the word.
he
is
took the
Clearly
initial letter of itself
The
uncial" form
A.
would not serve his purpose, since it denotes a number. Therefore an addition is necessary. The second letter is E, but AE is equally a number. The second
1
A by
am
not even sure that the description can be
made
to
mean
all that it is
intended to mean.
AXiWs
scarcely seems to be sufliciently precise.

off,
Might
top?
it
not be applied to ^ with any part cut

*
and not only shortened

If
at the
adhere to the uncial form above for clearness' sake.
Diophantos used
the "Majuskelcursive" form, the explanation will equally apply, the difference
of form being for our purpose lU'Rlifiihle.
NOTATION AND DEFINITIONS OF

letter of the
DIOl'llANTt
)S.
7:{
stem Xnr
is
I,
but
Al
is
open
I
to objectiuii \slnii
so written.
Hence Diophantos placed the
inside the A, thus,
A.
Of
there
are
the possibility of this I entertain no doubt, because indubitable cases of combination, even in uncial
writing, of
ticular to
two
letters into
is
one sign.
would refer
for
in
par-
X, which
A,
is
an uncial abbreviation
TAAANTON.
(written in
Now
this sign.
an inverted and truncated
i/r
the uncial form, ^j; and we can, on this assumpti(tn, easily account for the explanation of the sign for minus which is given in the text.
i.e.
For Division it often happens that no symbol is necessary, in the cases where one number is to be divided by another which will divide it without a remainder. In other cases the by a
fraction,
division has to be expressed
whether the divisor
Thus the case comes under that of Fractions. To express numerical fractions Diophantos adopts a uniform system, which is also seen in other writers. The numerator he writes in the ordinary line like a number; then he places the denominator above the line to the right of the numerator, in the same place
or contain the variable.
be an absolute
number
of Division
as
we should
aP,
write an exponent, usually placing a ciicumflex

it.
a-cent over the eud of

is
Thus
i| is represented by tf'^
yJ^j^
,
-Win- is (v. 12) êTZT?""^", ^[\%' is (iv. 17) y.S'xicd^'^^'. Diophantos, however, often expresses fractions by simply putting
iv
fjLopiro
or [lopiov
between the numerator and the denominator,

Cf. IV,
i.e.
one number divided by another.

Vif/nV'
is
^^^'J
"^'-
29
pF-.^f
^ttS fiopiov
i.e.
HS^.fipixh, i.e.
-'^
/5-,^X
^^ p-opiw
pK^.aKi,
TyiCô*
tos
There
a peculiarity in the
way
in
which DiophanIt
will
expresses such complex fractions as
,.,,'
be
best
understood
by giving a typical
case.
This jiarticular
is,
fraction Diopliantos writes thus,
aoyXB^^^.u^, that
i.
.
it is
as
if
he had written with our notation y^Y

"
-
Instances of this
fiH[)ii
notation occur passim,
cf.
V. 2 T7r6i"'^.d^ is e(iuivalent to in
-p.f
Bachet reproduces Diophantos' notation by writing

cases '/jY h ^^^^ iti
h
the.se
respectively.
74
DIOPHANTOS OF ALEXANDHIA.
But there
is
another kind of fraction, besides the purely

is
numerical one, which

metics, such fractions
in
continually occurring in the Arithas involve the
namely
unknown quantity
some form or other in their denominators. The simplest case is that in which the denominator is simply a power of the Concerning fractions of this kind Diophantos unknown, 9'. says (Def. 3) "As fractions named after numbers have similar names to those of the numbers themselves (thus a third is
named from three, a fourth from monymous with what are called
- from
Kvô<i, to
four), so
dpiO/iot,
the fractions hoor
unknowns, are
fraction to
BvvafiL<;,
called after them, thus from dpi6fx6<;

dpiOfjioaTov
[i.e.
;r],
we name the
from
to Suvafioarov
to
Kvôarov from
/i.t<?,
SwafjuoBwafioaTov from SuvafioBvva-
TO Bvva/xoKv/SoaTOv from
Bwap-oKvô^, and to kvôkv-
ôarov from KvôKv/So'i. And every such fraction shall have its symbol after the homonymous number with a line to indiThus we find, for cate the species" (i.e. the order or power)*.
8
. ,
example,
IV.
3,
77"*"
corresponding to
or with
the genitive
termination of dpiOfioaTov,
e.g., IV, 16, Xe''^-^
or
Cf. av^"-^
or-V-
250
îJe by side with the employment of the symbols to

2, &c.,
express fractions corresponding to -,
we
:
find
the terms
regularly
dpiOfioarov, Bwafioarov k.t.X. used in full
this is
when the numerator Thus in numerical fraction.

the case
of the fraction itself contains a

v.
31 dptdfjioaTov d d^ corre^
sponds to
-^ and hwapLoarov T
d^ to -
complicated
1
Diophantos extends his use of fractions still further to more ca.ses in which the numerator and denominator
The meaning
is
of the last sentence
is
not quite clear.
am
inclined to
think there
?$ft 5^
something wrong with the

iirl Toy< ofiuvi'ifiov
text,
which stands
in
Bachet as follows
Ixo" SiaffT^Wovaav
iKaarov avTwv
dpiO/xov arjiii'iov
ypdij.fj.r]v
This he translates, "Habebit autem quaelibet pars a sibi cognomitie numero notarn et literam superscriptam quae speciem a specie distinguat."' Here apparently literam corresponds to ypdfifxr]v.
rb el5os.
XOTATIOX AND DKFIMTK t.NS OF UK )l'll ANTi )S.
7o
may be compound expressions themselves, Thus, iv. 37, we liave known ([uantity.
'
involving the un/u."
9''
"''", i.e.
AVhen, however,
tlie
denominator
is
a compound ex-
pression Diophantos uses the expedient which he adopts in the case of Large numbers occurring as numerator or denominator, namely, the insertion between the expressions denoting tlio
numerator and denominator of the term iv fjLopi(p or fxoplov. Thus in VI. 13 we find, h" ^./u," j34>k iv fiopup B"6" a /x" "^ \ei\Jrei 60^-' + 2520 -'5 c>., . ^,
.'
c.
sjc fiopiM o" a
'
>i^
s
/j.
^ r a corresponding to
2j-'
+
^
ox^^
+ ix +
\
.
To connect the two

are
sides of an equation Diophantos uses

i<to<;
Avords (cro9 or i'ao9 iari, or the oblique cases of
when they
It
made necessary by grammatical
construction.
would
appear, at least from Bachet's edition of Diophantos, that the
equations were put
down
in the
ordinary course of writing,
and that they were not placed

in
in separate lines for each step
the process of simplification, being in fact written in the

as the propositions of Euclid.
same way
We
have, however,
by which the steps were tabulated in a manner very similar to that of modern algebraical work, s<^ that by means of a sort of skeleton of the procedure we get a
signs of a system
kind of bird's-eye view of

])hantos
its course, in
the manuscript of Dio-
which Bachet
himself used.
in
We
have
it
on
the
authority of M. Rodet,
who
an
article in the
Journal Asia-
tique^ has occasion to quote certain passages from the text of
J)iophantos, that
to
certain
problems
is
attached a tabular
view of the whole process, which Bachet has not in his editinn reproduced at all. M. Rodet gives from the MS. several iniitances.
like
the modern, the two

I
In these we have equations set down in a form very members being connected by the
Besides
letter
(abbreviated for Xaoi) as the sign of e<iualit\'.
Janvier, 1878.
is
(
Here again the abbreviation which I have previously discnssed.

-
explicable
on the .same
jirinciiik-
as 11kc
by
itself
means
it.
10,
but a distinîshinp
mark
is
ready to Land in the breathing' phmcd over
70
the
side
equations
written in this form words signifying the nature of
there
tlie
are
on
the
left
operation in passing
illustrate this I will
i.
from one particular step to the next.

"
To
give the table after Rodet for the very simple problem
32.
two numbers whose sum, and the ditference of whose squares are given." (The sum is supposed to be 20, the diffind
To
ference of squares
of the two
is
80.)
Diophantos assumes the difference

to be two dpidfioL
side,
numbers themselves
left
the Greek table on the

equivalent.
iKdeais
s" /uoT
I will put and on the right the modern
The operations
:
will
be easily understood.
yuoif. set]
virepox-f)
NOTATION AND DEFINITIONS OF DIOPIIANToS.
77
may remark on
the general system which he uses that it is essentially different in its character from the modern notation.
While in modern times signs and symbols have been developed which have no intrinsic relationship to the things which they syml)olise, but depend for their use upon convention, the case is quite different with Diophantos, where algebraic notation takes the form of mere abbreviation of words which are considered a.s
pronounced or implied.
This
is
partly proved by the symbols

first letter
themselves, which in general consist of the
or letters
of words (so written as to avoid confusion), the only possible exception being the supposed final sigma, 9, for dpiBfxof or the
unknow^n quantit3^ Partly also it is proved by the fact that Diophantos uses the symbol and the complete word very often
quite indifferently.
9
Thus we
find often in the
or 99
and
dpt6fi6<;, dpiO/xol, S"
and
is
hvvaixi<;,
^ and
same sentence \eiyjrei, and
so on.
The
strongest proof, however, that Diophantos' algebraic
notation >vas mere abbreviation
found in the fact that the

those words have a quite
abbreviations, which are his algebraical symbols, are used for
the corresponding words even

different signification.
when
So
in particular the
symbol
is
9 is
used as
its
an abbreviation
for dpL6fi6<;,
when the word
used, not in
in its
technical Diophantine sense for the
unknown, but
ordinary
meaning
of a number, especially in enunciations ^\here dpi$fi6<;
in its ordinary sense naturally occurs oftenest.
Similarly
is
not used only for
Xelyjret
but also
diro
for
other inflexional forms of
the stem of this word,

Tpel<;
e.g. for Xiiruv or \Lyjra<; in ill. 3:
Evpeh'
JJ^
dpiOfiov^
nroifj
o7rco<;
tov avy/ceifievov
iic
rcov rpLiov
eKaarov
Other indications are (1) the separation of the symbc.ls and coefficients by particles [cf. I. 4:J 99"' dpa I] (2) the addition of terminations to the symbol to represent the different cases. Nesselmann gives a good instance in which many of these peculiarities are combined, 99' dpa
rerpdycovoi'.
;
fx
laot elalv
99'*
Td fiovdcrc
Tt.
I.
ad Jin.
In order to determine in what place, in respect of .systems

of algebraic notation, Diophantos stands, Nesselmann observes
that
we
can, as regards the
form of exposition cf algebraic
operations and equations, distinguish three historical stages of
development, well marked and easily discernible.
1.
Tho
first
<S
DIorilANTOS OF ALKXANDlilA.
Stage Nesselinann repiesonts by the

or "reckoning by Complete words."
name Rltetoric Algebra, The characteristic of this

of complete words,
stage
is
the absolute want of
all
symbols, the svhole of the
calculation being carried on by
means
and
forming in fact continuous prose.

first
As
representatives of this
stage Nesselmann mentions lamblichos (of whose algebraiwork he quotes a specimen in his fifth chapter) "and all Arabian and Persian algebraists who are at present known." In their works we find no vestige of algebraic symbols the same may be said of the oldest Italian algebraists and their followers, and among them Regiomontanus. 2. The second stage Nesselmann proposes to call the Syncopated Algebra. This stage is essentially rhetorical and therein like the first in
cal
;
its
treatment of questions, but we now find for often-recurring
operations and quantities certain abbreviational symbols.

this
To
stage
belongs Diophantos and after him
all
the later
Europeans until about the middle of the seventeenth century (with the exception of the isolated case of Vieta, who, as we
have seen, initiated certain changes which anticipated later notation to some extent; we must make an exception too, though Nesselmann does not mention these cases, in favour of being used by certain symbols used by Xylandcr and Bachet, the former to express equality, + and by both, as also the
j|
ordinary
tor
way of representing a
3.
fraction
by placing the numera-
above the denominator separated by a Hue drawn horizon-
tally').
To the
third stage
Nesselmann gives the name
Symbolic Algebra, which uses a complete system of notation
by signs having no visible connection with the words or things which they represent, a complete language of symbols, which
supplants entirely the rhetorical system,
it
being possible to
work out a solution without using a
single
word of the ordinary
written language, with the exception (for clearnes.s' sake) of

1
These are only a few scattered instances.
Nesselmann, though he does
not mention Xylauder's and Bachet's symbols, gives other instances of isolated or common uses of signs, as showing that the division between the dilTerent
He instances the use of one operational algebraic is not shfirphj marked. symbol by Diophantos, namely ^, for which Lucas de Bnrgo uses m (and p for plKn), Targalia (p. Vieta has + and -, also = for ~. Oughtred uses x and Harriot expresses multiplication by juxtaposition.
stages
,
NOTATION AND DKl'lMTK )NS
(.F
Llopll ANTuS.
70
is
it
a conjunction here ami there, and so on.
Neither
thr
Europeans posterior to the middle of the seventeenth century who were the first to use Si/mbolic forms of Algebra, In this they were anticipated many centuries by the Indians.
As examples of these three stages Nesselmann gives three instances quoting word for word the solution of a quadratic
equation by
stage,
trate
Mohammed ibn Musa as an example of the first and the solution of a problem from Diophantos to illusthe second. Thus
Example from Molmmmed
square and ten of
is, if
First Stage.
ibn
Musa
(ed.
Rosen,
the
p, 5).
"A
its roots
are equal to nine
and thirty dirhems, that
you add ten
roots to one square,
sum
is
equal to nine and thirty.
The
is
solution
is
as follows
five
;
halve the
number
of roots,
that
in this case
then
and the result is five and twenty. Add this to the nine and thirty, which gives sixty-four; take the square root, or eight, and subtract from it half the number of roots, namely five, and there remain three this is the root of the square whicli was required and the square itself is
multiply this by
itself,
:
nine^."
bers, so that this
Here we observe that not even are symbols used for numexample is even more "rhetorical" than the
wôrk of larablichos
who does
use the Greek symbols
for his
numbers.
Second
lation
stage. for
word
As an example of Diopliantos I give a transword ^ of II. 8, So as to make the symbols
correspond exactly I use

her) for
"
9,
S {Square)
for h" {8vvaf/.c<i),
(Xiunbe
U for
Units
{fiovdhe<i).
To
divide the proposed square into two squares.
Let
it
proposed then to divide 16 into two squares.

'
And
let the first
Thus Mohammed ilm
Mfisfi states in
words the solution
x2+10j + 25 = C4,
therefore
x + 5 = 8, x = 3.
words whenever Diophantos does so, and to avoid confusion have written Siium-c and Xiimbfi- in the technical sense with a capital letter, and italicised tlicm.
'
have used the
full
80
DIOPHANTOS OF Al.EXANDIUA.
be supposed to be Oue Square.
Thus 16 miuus One Square must be equal to a square. I form the square from any number of iV's minus as many U's as there are in the side of 16 U's. Suppose this to be 2 K's miuus 4 U's. Thus the square itself These are equal to will be 4 Squares, 16 U. minus 16 ^V.'s. 16 Units minus Oue Square. Add to each the negative term deficiency) and take equals from equals. Thus (Xeti/ri?, 5 Squares are equal to 16 Numbers; and the Number is 16 fifths. One [square] will be 256 twenty-fifths, and the other 144 twenty-fifths, and the sura of the two makes up 400 twenty-fiftlis, or 16 Units, and each [of the two found] is a
square.
Of
^>^
the third stage any exemplification
is
unnecessary.
is
6. that he
To the form
is
of Diophantos' notation
due the
fact
unable to introduce into his questions more than one

quantity.
unknown
This limitation has
made
his procedure
modern work. In the first place he performs eliminations, which we should leave to be done in the course of the work, before he prepares to work out the problem, by expressing everything which occurs in such a way This is the case in the great as to contain only one unknown.
often very different from our
majority of questions of the
first
Book, which are cases of the

first
solution of determinate simultaneous equations of the
order
with two, three, or four variables; all these Diophantos expresses in terms of one unknown, and then proceeds to find it
from a simple equation.
In cases where the relations between
these variables are complicated, Diophantos shows extraordinary
acuteness in the selection of an unknown quantity. Secondly, however, this limitation affects much of Diophantos' work injuriously, for while he handles problems which are by nature
indeterminate and woukl lead with our notation to an inde-
terminate equation containing two or three unknowns, he

these
arbitrarily-chosen numbers which have the making the problem a determinate one. However
fair to
is
compelled by limitation of notation to assign to one or other of

effect
it is
of
but
say that Diophantos in assigning an arbitrary value to

is
a quantity
careful to tell us so, saying " for such
and such
a quantity we put any number wliatever, say such and such
NOTATION AND DKFINITION'S

a one."
(tF
1)F<
)riIANT()S.
(in
Hi
LfiMieral)
Thus
is
it
can lianlly be said
tliat
there
is
any loss of Diophantos
universality.
We
may
say, then, that in general
obliged
to
express
all
his
is
unknowns
something
in terms,
or as functions, of one variable.
There
exce.ssively
.so
interesting in the clever devices by which he contrives
to
express
them
in
terms of his single unknown,

all
<?,
as that
by that
very expression of them

satisfied
conditions
of the
problem are
except one, which serves to complete the solution by
determining the value of

tos'
Another consequence of Diophan9. want of other symbols besides 9 to express more variables
is
than one
that,
when
(as often
happens)
it is
necessary in the
course of a problem to work out a subsidiary problem in order

to obtain the coefficients &c. of the functions of 9 which express
the quantities to be found, in this case the required
unknown
is
which
is
used for the solution of the new subsidiary problem

9
;
denoted by the same symbol
hence we have often in the

with two
diti'erent
same problem the same

meanings.
cases,
variable 9 used
an obvious inconvenience and might lead to confusion in the mind of a careless reader. Again we find two
This
is
II. 29 and 30, where for the proper working-out of the problem two unknowns are imperatively necessary. We should
of course use x and y

i.e. 1.
but Diophantos
calls
the
first 9
as u.sual
the second, for want of a term, he agrees to
call "
one unit,"
Then,
later,
9
necessary to find
having completed the part of the solution he substitutes its value, and uses 9 over
1 "
again to denote what he had originally called "

variable
the
second
and so finds
it.
This
is
the most curious case I have
with, and the way in which Diophantos after having worked with this " 1 " along with other numerals is yet able to pounce upon the particular place where it has passed to, so as to
met
substitute 9 for
it, is
very remarkable.
sible in particular cases
such as those which
This could only be posI have mentioned
seems scarcely possible now to work out the problem using x and 1 for the variables as originally taken by Diophantos without falling into confusion. Perhaps, however,- it may not be impo.ssible that Diophantos in working out the
but, even here,
it
problems before writing them down as we have them may have given the " 1 " which stood for a variable some mark by which
H. D.
82
DIOPHANTo.S OF ALKXANDl'JA.
it and distinguish it from otlier numbers. For the problems themselves see Appendix. It may be in some measure due to the defects of notation in his time that Diophantos will have in his solutions no numbers whatever except rational numbers, in which, in addition to surds and imaginary quantities, he includes negative quantities. Of a negative quantity iêr se, i.e. without some positive quantity to subtract it from, Diophantos had apparently no conception. Such equations then as lead to surd, imaginary, or
he could recognise
negative roots he regards as useless for his purpose

tion
is
the solufind
it
in these cases dSvvaro'i, impossible.
So we
him
describing the equation 4

give ^
= 4.r +
20 as utotto^ because
it
would
fre-
4.
Diophantos makes
throughout his object to
obtain solutions in rational numbers, and
we
find
him
quently giving, as a preliminary, conditions which

satisfied,
must bo
which are the conditions of a result rational in DioIn the great majority of cases when Diophantos arrives in the course of a solution at an equation M'hich would give an irrational result he retraces his steps and finds
phantos' sense.
out
how
his equation has arisen,
the previous work substitute for
and how he may by altering it another which shall give
a rational result. This gives rise, in general, to a subsidiary problem the solution of which ensures a rational result for the
problem
for
itself.
Though, however, Diophantos has no notation

results, it is scarcely true to
a surd, and does not admit surd

results.
say that he makes no use of quadratic equations which lead to
such
Thu.s, for
far
example, in
v.
33 he solves such an
equation
so
as
to
be able to see to what integers the
solution would approximate
most
nearly.
CHAPTEIi
V.
DIOPHANTOS' METHODS OF SOLUTION.
1.
Before I give an accouut in detail of the
differojit
methods which Diophantos employs
for the sohition of his pro-
blems, so far as they can be classified, I must take exception to some remarks which Hankel has made in his account of Diophantos {Zur Geschichte der Mathematik in Alterthum vnd
Mittelalter,
Leipzig,
1874, pp. 164

:
5).
This
account does
not only possess literary merit
it is
the work of a
man who
has read Diophantos.
His remarks therefore possess excep-
tional value as those of a
man
particularly well qualified to
speak on matters relating to the history of mathematics, and also from the contrast to the mass of writers who have thought
themselves capable of pronouncing upon Diophantos and his
merits, while they
show unmistakeably that they have not

Hankel, who has read Diophantos with
aj)-
studied his work.
preciation, says in the place referred to,
"The
of,
reader will
now
be desirous to become acquainted with the classes of indeterminate problems which Diophantos treats
of solution.
and
his
methods
that
As
regards the
first
point,
we must observe
in the 130 (or so) indeterminate questions, of which Diophantos

treats in his great work, there are over 50 different classes of
questions, which are arranged one after the other without any
recognisable classification, except that the solution of earlier
questions facilitates that of the later.

tains determinate algebraic equations;
The
first
Book only con-
Books ir. to v. contain for the most part indeterminate questions, in which expressions which involve in the first or second degree two or more variables Lastly, Book vi. is concerned are to be made squares or cubes.
84
DIOPIIANTOS OF ALEXANDRIA.
regarded purely arithmetically, in
Avith riglit-augled triangles
which some one linear or quadratic function of the sides is to be made a square or a cube. That is all that we can pronounce
about this elegant series of questions vnthout exhibiting singhj each of the fifty classes. Almost more different in kind than the questions are their solutions, and we are completely unable
to give an even tolerably exhaustive review of the different
varieties in
his
is
procedure.
Of more
general comprehensive
:
methods there
tion requires
the
in our author no trace discoverable
every ques-
an
entirely different method, winch often, even in

to
problems most nearly related
the former, refuses its aid.
It is on that account difficult for
a more modern mathematician
even after studying 100 Diophantine solutions to solve the lOlsi

question
;
and
if
endeavours read Diophantos' own solution,

to see
we have made the attempt and after some vain we shall be astonished
leaves the broad high-road,
how suddenly Diophantos

often
dashes into a side-path and with a quiet turn reaches the

goal
enough a goal with reaching which we should not we expected to have to climb a difficult path, but instead of to be rewarded at the end by an extensive view which our guide leads by narrow, strange, but smooth ways to He lacks the calm and a small eminence he has finished concentrated energy for a deep plunge into a single important problem and in this way the reader also hurries with inward unrest from problem -to problem, as in a succession of riddles, without being able to enjoy the individual one. Diophantos dazzles more than he delights. He is in a wonderful measure
:
be content
wise, clever, quick-sighted, indefatigable, but does not penetrate
thoroughly or deeply into the root of the matter.

tions
As
his ques-
seem framed
in
obedience to no obvious scientific necessity,
often only for the sake of the solution, the solution itself also lacks
perfection and deeper signification.
He
is
a brilliant performer
in the art of indeterminate analysis invented
by him, but the
science has nevertheless

brilliant genius for
been indebted, at
least directly, to this
few methods, because he was deficient in
speculative thought which sees in the

Correct.
True more than the
That
is
the general impression, which I have gained
from a thorough and repeated study of Diophantos' arithmetic."
DIOPIIANTOS
METHODS OF SOLUTION.
if
S.")
Now
tion
is
it
will
be at once obvious that,
Ilaiikcl's representa-
any hope of giving a general account of Diophantos' methods such as I have shown in the heading of this chapter would be perfectly illusory. Hankel clearly asserts tliivt there are no general methods distinguishable in the Arithmetics. On the other hand we find Nesselmann saying (pp. 308 9) that the use of determinate numerals in Diophajitos' problems constitutes no loss of generality, for throughout he is continually showing how other numerals than those which
correct,
"
he takes will satisfy the conditions of the problem, showinnthat his whole attention is directed to the explanation of the
method, for Avhich purjjose numerical examples only serve as
means " this is proved by his frequently stopping short, when the method has been made sufficiently clear, and the remainder of the work is mere straightforward calculation. Cf. v. 14, IS, It is true that this remark may only apply to the 19, 20 &c. isolated " method " employed in one particular problem and in no other but Nesselmann goes on to observe that, though the Greeks and Arabians used only numerical examples, yet they had general rules and methods for the solution of equations, as we have, only expressed in words. "So also Diophantos, whose methods have, it is true, in the great majority of cases no such
; ;
universal character, gives us a perfectly general rule for solving
what he calls a double-equation." These remarks Nesselmann makes in the 7th chapter of his book the 8th chapter he
;
entitles
"Diophantos' treatment of equations',"

classified
in
which he
gives an account of Diophantos' solutions of (1) Deterniinato,

(2)
Indeterminate equations,
according to their kind.
Chapter 9 of his book Nesselmann

of solution^"
calls
"Diophantos' methods
:
These "methods" he gives as fcjlJows^ (1) "The adroit assumption of unknowns." (2) "Metho<l of reckoning
^
2
3
"Diophant's BehandlunR der Gleichunt,'tn." "Diophant's AuflosuriKsmethodeu." "Die gescbickte Annahme dcr Unbekannten." (1)
(3)
(4)
(2)
'Mflhode
fiir
ilcr
Zuriickrechming und Nebenaufgabe."
"Gebrauch dcs Symbols

"Autt.isung
in
dio
Unbekannte in verschiedenen Bedeutungen." "Auflosung durch blo.sse Reflexion." (G) (5)

Ausdriicken."
(7)
"Metliodc der Gren/.fu."

ollKemeinPn
(8)
" Willkiihrliche Bestiniraungen
und Annuhnien."
"tie-
branch dcs rcchtwinkhu'cn Dipiecks."
86
(3) "
backw artls and auxiliary questions."

for
Use
of the
(4)
symbol
the
unknown
(5)
"
in
different significations."
"Method
of Limits."
in
Solution by mere reflection."
(G) " Solution
general expressions."
(8) "
(7) "Arbitrary determinations and
assumptions."
Use
of the right-angled triangle."

it
is
At
the end of chapter 8 Nesselmann observes that

at,
not
the solution of equations that we have to wonder

fect art
but the per-
which enabled Diophantos
to avoid such equations as
he
could not technically solve.
We
look (says Nesselmann) with
astonishment at his operations, when he reduces the most difficult questions by some surprising turn to a simple equation.
"
Then, when in the 9th chapter Nesselmann passes to the methods," he prefaces it by saying " To represent perfectly Diophantos' methods in all their completeness would mean nothing else than copying his book outright. The individual
:
him occasion to upon it a peculiar procedure or found upon it an artifice Meanwhich cannot be applied to any other question while, though it may be impossible to exhibit all his methods in any short space, yet I will try to give some operations which occur more often or are by their elegance particularly noticeable, and (where possible) to make clear their scientific principle by a general exposition from common stand-points." Now the question whether Diophantos' methods can be exhibited briefly, and whether there can be said to be any methods in his work, must depend entirely upon the meaning we attach to the word "method." Nesselmann's arrangement seems to me to be
characteristics of almost every question give
try
faulty
equations
inasmuch as (1) he has treated Diophantos' solution of which certainly proceeded on fixed rules, and there" separately from what he calls " methods of fore by " method solution," thereby making it appear as though he did not look
upon the
" treatment of equations " as " methods." Now cer" should, if anything, have tainly the " treatment of equations head of " methods of solution " and obviously
come under the
the very fact that Diophantos solved equations of various kinds by fixed rules itself disproves the assertion that no metJwds
;nc
"
discernible.
(2)
The
classification
under the head of

In
tlic
Mctliods
of
solution"
seems
unsatisfactory.
first
DIOPHANTOS METHODS UF SoLlTIoX.

place,
S7
some
of the classes can hardly be said to be nu'thmls of
solution at all;
thus the third, "Use of the symbol for the

significations",
unknown
in
different
might be more justly

it
described as a "hindrance to the solution";
is
vlxx
inconve-
nience to which Diophantos was reduced owing to the want of
Secondly, on the assumption of the eight " methods" Nesselmann describes them, it is really not surprising that " no complete account of them could be given without copying the whole book." To take the first, "the adroit assumption of unknowns." Supposing that a number of distinct, ditferent
notation.
as
problems are proposed, the existence of such differences makes a different assumption of an unknown in each case absolutely
necessary.
That being
cases
?
so,
how
could
it
be possible to give a
is
rule for
all
The
best that can be done
an enumera-
tion of typical instances.
The assumption
that the methods
of Diophantos
fact,
i.e.,
cannot be tabulated, on the evidence of this

"
because no rule can be given for the

Precisely the
adroit assump-
tion of
unknowns" which Nesselmann
classes as a
"method,"
is
same may be said of "methods" (2), (5), (C), (7). For these, by the very nature of things, no rule can be given they bear in their names so much The case of (4), "the of rule as can be assigned to them. Method of Limits", is different; here we have the only class which exemplifies a "method" in the true sense of the term,
entirely unwarranted.
:
i.e.
as an instrument for solution.
And
accordingly in this case

:
the method can be exhibited, as I hope to show later on

(8) also
deserves to some extent the
name
of a " method."
I think, therefore, that neither
Nesselmann nor Hanktl has
treated satisfactorily the question of Diophantos' methods, the

classification, the latter by methods are anywhere discernible in Diophantos. It is true that we cannot find in Diophanto.s' work statements of method put generally as book-work to be applied
former through a faulty system of

general
denying that
But it was not Diophantos' object to write a textto examples. book of Algebra. For this reason we do not find the separate rules and limitations for the solution of different kinds of equations systematically arranged, but we have to seek them out
laboriously from the
whole of his work, gathering
.5cattcred
88
indications here
and there, and so formulate tlicni in the best Such being the case, I shall attempt in the following pages of this chapter to give a detailed account of what may be called general methods running through Diophantos. For the reasons which I have stated, my arrangement will be different
way we
can.
from that of Nesselmann, who is the only author who has attempted to give a complete account of the methods. I shall not endeavour to describe as methods such classes of solutions as are some which are, by Nesselmann, called "methods of solution":
and, in accordance with his remark that these "
methods" can
only be adequately described by a transcription of the entire
work,
shall
leave
them
to
be gathered from a perusal of

is
my
reproduction of Diophantos' book which
given in
my
Appendix.
2.
I sluili
begin
my
account with
Diophantos' tueatmknt of equations.

This subject
falls
naturally into two division.s

different
(A) Deter-
minate
equations
of
degrees.
(B)
Indeterminate
equations.
(A.)
Determinate equations.
difficulty to solve
;
Diophantos was able without

c( [nations
determinate
of the first
and second degree
of a cubic equation
is
we
Hnd
in his Arithmetics only
one example, and that
a very
special case.
over; hence
of solution
The solution of simple equations we may pass we must separately consider Diophantos' method
of
(1)
Pure
equations,
(2)
Adfected, or mixed
quadratics.
(1)
Pare determinate
equations I
equations.
By pure
solution
is
mean
those equations which contain
oidy one power of the unknown, whatever the degree.

effected in the .same
;
The way whatever the exponent of

eijuations
first
the term in the
unknown and Diophantos regards pure
of any degree as though thfy were simple C(iuations of the
DIOPHANTOS METHODS OF SOLLTION.

degree'.
M)
He
the degree: "If

side the
gives a general rule for this case without regard to we arrive at an equation containing on each
different coefficients,
same term but with

if
we must take
equals from equals, until

term.
we
get one term equal to another

sides until all tiie terms
But,
there are on one or on both sides negative terms,
the deficiencies

is left
on both sides are positive.

equals until one term
tions have
Then we must take

on each
side."
is
equals from
After these opera-
been performed, the equation

is
reduced to the form
Ax"*
= B and
considered solved.
in
The
c^vses
which occur
is
in
Diophantos are cases

a
rational
which the value of x
fouud to be
number, integral or fractional. Diophantos only x which satisfies this equation thus if m is even, he gives only the positive value, a negative value jjer In the same se being a thing of which he had no conception. way, when an equation can be reduced in degree by dividing
recognise one value of
;
throughout by any power of
x,
the possible values,
x=0,
tlius
arising are not taken into account.
Thus an equation
t'>
of the
form
x^
= ax,
x
which
is
is
of
common
occurrence in the earlier part

the simjIe
of the book,
ecpiation
It
taken to be merely equivaleut
= a.
observed that the greater proportion of the pro-
may be
in
Book l. are such that more than one unknown quantify Now% when there are two unknowns and two condiis sought. tions, both unknowns can be easily expressed in terms of one symbol. But when there are three or four quantities to be found this reduction is much more difficult, and Diophanto-s
blems
manifests peculiar adroitness in effecting
that
it is
it
:
the result being
unknown
only necessary to solve a simple equation with one With regard to pure eciuations, .some have quantity.
tlie
asserted that pure quadratics were
only form
>f
([uailratic
'
Dof. 11:
fir}
MerA
5^
Tavra iav
airb
irpofi\r)naT6s rii'ot yivijTai Crapiit ilitai
To?s aiiToh
bixoirX-qdr)
Si dirb iKaripwv tCiv fitpCiv, Strati i^xupfiy rd Ofioia

(?)
aw6 im-
Twv
ofioiwu,
iws av ifbs
eZSos ivl etdfi toov y^vrrrai.
4cu>
bl
Twt
(V oTOTifHfi
irdpxv^^) V ^v diJ.<poT^poii ivtWei^f/ri TifiL etSr), Scâti Kp<(jOtlvai ri. Xiiworra itSif (i> dn(l>oT^pois Tois ixipeaiv, ?wj dv inaTtpip tu.'v nfpwv to. ttorj iwwdpxovTa finfrai.
Kal
trdXiv
dêXfiv
rd
cp.oia
dirb
rwf
ofioluv
tm
ay cKor^/x^ twi' fitpif In tlSot
Kara\ui>0^.
Bachet's text
(lO-il). p. 10.
90
:
solved in Diuplianto;;'
a statement entirely without foundation.
We
proceed to consider
(2)
Mixed quadratic
equations.
After the remarks in Def. 11 upon the reduction of pure

equations until
we have one term equal
to
another term,
Diophantos adds*: "But we will show you afterwards how, in the case also when two terms are left equal to a single term,
such an equation can be solved."
Arithmetics, as
That
is
to say, he promises to
explain the solution of a mixed quadratic equation.
In the
fulfilled.
we
possess the book, this promise
is
not
The
first
indications
we have on the
is
subject are a
number
of
cases in which the equation
given, and the solution written
down, or stated to be rational without any work being shown.

Thus,
IV. 23,
a;
"x
:
4a;
4,
therefore
cc
= 2":
vi. 7, "8-^x^
lx = 7,
vi.
hence
= ^"
vi. 9, " 630.^'^

G,
73.r = 6,
therefore
x = f^": and,
and x is rational." These examples, though proving that somehow Diophantos had arrived at the result, are not a sufficient proof to satisfy us that he necessarily was acquainted with a regular method for the solution of quadratics these solutions might (though their variety makes it somewhat
8, " G30j;*^
+ 7Sx =
mere ti'ial. That, however, mixed quadratics were not merely In this problem he empirical, is shown by instances in v. 3.1 shows pretty plainly that his method was scientific, in that he
unlikely) have been obtained by
Diophantos' solutions
of
indicates that he could approximate to the root in cases

it is
not rational.
As
this
is
where an important point, I give the

:
substance of the passage in question

that
x'
it
"x has
.
to be so
2
determined
o.r,
must be >
S.r.
^'-GO -
and <
x'-iJO
-^
i.e. .x
,.n - 00 >
and
GO <
Therefore
x"
Hx
+ some number >
GO, therefore
a;
be not
less
than II, and x^
<8x +
60, therefore
x must must be not
greater than 12."

1
Cf. Iloimer,
translation
of
Bossut's
Ge.^rh.
d.
Dictionary.
*
Also Dr Hcinrich Siitcr's doubts in Oesch.

(TOL
Math. i. 55. Kliigel's d. Math. Zurich, 1873.
vaTfpov hi
Sciôfxev Kal
ttois
8i'o iidJiv
lawv
iv\
KaraXfifdivTwv t6 towvtov
\vtTai.
DIOrilAXTOS' MKTIloDS UF SOLUTION.
11
Now
by examining the roots of these two equations we rtnJ
x>
^,
and .'<4 +
V<(),
or .v> lO-G'-ldi and

It
is
x<
Il'TITN.
clear therefore that x inai/ be
<
1 1
or
>
12,
and there-
fore Diophantos' limits are not strictly accurate.
As however
it was doubtless his object to find integral limits, the limits 11 and 12 are those wdiich are obviously adapted for his purpose, and are a fortiori right. Later in the same problem he makes an auxiliary determination of x, which must be such that
x^+m>1c,
which give
a,-'
+ GO <
Sir,
x>\l+J(ji, a;<12 + J^\.

10,
Here Diophantos says x must be >

are clearly the nearest integral limits.
<21,
wliioli
again
The occurrence
be hit upon by
of these two examples which we have given
of equations whose roots are irrational, and therefore could not

trial,
show's that in such cases Diophantos
must
have
liad a
it
method by which he approximated

mixed quadratic
equations.
to these roots.
Thus
may
be taken for granted that Diophantos had a definite
rule for the solution of
We
are further able to
make out
the formula or rule by
which Diophantos solved such equations. Take, for example, In our modern method of solution the equation ax^ \- hx c = 0. we divide by a and write the result originally in tlic form
-\-
x=
/~T^
y~
It docs not
a.
appear that Diophantos
divided throughout by
to bring the equation into the
Rather he first multiplied by a so as tlicn form aV + ahx + ac =

;
solving
he
found
f..rm
ax= \h J\i}^ ac,

,^_^
^
and regarded the
result in the'
^'l
^'-^,
Whether
it is
the
inter-
a
mediate procedure was as we have described
but
it is
n(H certain
certain that he used the result in the form given.
One
remark however must be made upon the form

'
of the root.
Nessi'luiann, p.
:ilO.
Also
IJo.li-t,
Jountdl
Aîniiijiir. .Iiiiivi.r, I'-T-.
92
tlie
Diophantos takes no account of
existence of two roots,
according to the sign taken before the radical.

giving the value of the root.
surprise us in cases
Diophantos
ignores always the negative sign, and takes the positive one as
Though
this
perhaps might not
where one of the roots obtained is negative, yet neither does Diophantos use both roots when both arc In contrast to this Nessehnann points out positive in sign. that the Arabians (as typified by Mohammed ibn Milsa) and the older Italians do in this latter case recognise both roots. M. llodet, however, remarks upon this comparison between
Diophantos and the Arabians, so unfavourable to the former, as follows (a) Diophantos did not write a text-book on Algebra, and in the cases where the equation arrived at gives two
positive solutions one of
them
a;
is
excluded a priori, as
v. 13.
for ex-
ample
72.r
in the case quoted

llx'^
by him,
>
+ 17
would give
< ff
or else
Here the inequality x<-^. But the other

19,
inequality to be satisfied
ov
is
*l^x<l^x^ +
which gives
x>\%
x> f^.
impossible.
As however -^j < /\j, the limits x<^\> fjj are Hence the roots of the equations corresponding
must necessarily be
rejected.
to the negative sign of the radical

(6)
Mohammed
ibn Muâ, althougli recognising in theory two
roots of the equation x^
+c=
hx, in practice
only uses one of
the two, and, curiously enough, always takes the value cor-
responding to the negative sign before the radical, whereas
Diophantos uses the positive
sign.
But
see Chapter viii.
the rule given in Def. 11 for compensating by addition any negative terms on either side of an equation and taking equals from equals (operations called by the Arabs aljahr and
From
almulcahala)
it
is
clear
that
as
a preliminary to
solution
Diophantos so arranged his equation that all the terms were Thus of the mixed quadratic equation we have three positive.
cases of which
we may give
instances
thus,
Case
1.
YoYm mx^
-rpx
q; the root
instance
-^,p + Jip' + m<i

is
1)1
according to
Diophantos.
An
is
afforded
by
VI.
G.
Diophantos arrives namely at the equation C./-I- 3u: = 7, which, if it is to be of any service to his solution, should give a rational
value of X
;
whereupon Diophantos says
"
the S(]uarc of half
tlic
DIOPHANTOS' MrnioDS OF SOLUTION.

coefficient' of
a;
[):}
togetlier with tlie pn.duot
ul"
the absohite term
and the
i.e.
coefficient of x^
tliis
]/>"+ mq, or in
must be a square number; but it is not," case (^)'' + 42, must be a scjuare in onh-r
which
in
tliis
that the root
may be
rational,
case
it is
not.
Case
2.
i)^
Form
.
mx^
= px +
q.
Diopliantos
2x-*
takes
1
X=
- f^
+ V iii i + tun 1
:
An example
is IV.
45, where
> Gx +
S.
Diophantos says
efficient of X,
"
To
solve this take the square of half the co-
i.e. 9,
the coefficient of
root^ of
x', i.e.
and the product of the ftbsolute term and od. Adding, we have 45, the square
which
divide
by the
is
coefficient of
of the root
half the coefficient of x and whence x < 5." Here the form given completely; and the whole operation by
is
not^
<
7.
Add
;
x"^
which Diopbantos found

Case
3.
it is
revealed.
3'
Form mx^ +
P''
'
Dioplianto.s'
root
is
17.6-^+
M-/.
17 <72x.
Cf. in V. 13 the equation already mentioned,
Diophantos says: "Multiply half the

:
coeffi-
and we have 1296 subtract the i)roduct The of the coefficient of x^ and the absolute term, or 2<S9. remainder is 1007, the square root of which is not^ > 31. Achl Divide half the coefficient of x, and the result is not > 07. by the coefficient of x^, and x is not > f f ." Here again we have
cient of
into itself
the complete solution given.

(3)
Cubic equation.
is no ground for supposing that Diophantos was acquainted with the solution of a cubic ct[uation. It is true
There
is is
there
but
it
one cubic e(piation which occurs In only a very particular case.
in
the Arithmetics,
vi.
19 the equation
says
arises,
a.'^
+ 2^ +
= a;^ +
is
3a;
3a;'^
4."
1,
and
Diophantos
simply,
1
"whence x
= coeff
of x.
found to be
All that can be said of

irX^t'os,
For "coeflicient" Diophantos uses simply

.
luiinbcr: thus
"number
of apiOfiol "
2
Diophantos
7,
calls the "square root" irXei'pd or side. though not accurate, is clearly the nearest integral limit which
will servo
the purpose.
*
As
before, the nearest intajruJ limit.
O-i
this is that if
we
write the equation in true Diophantine fashion,
so that all terms are positive,
x^
+ oc =
4'X^+
4.
This equation being clearly equivalent to x{x^ + l)

equation of a
a;
= 4(.r'^ + l),
by
it is
Diophantos probably detected the presence on both sides of the
common
account
factor.
The
result of dividing
= 4, which is X = J 1 no
From
far
Diophantos' solution.
is
Of the two other
roots
taken, for reasons stated above.
this single
example we have no means of judging how
Diophantos was acquainted with the solutions of equations

I pass
of a degree higher than the second.
now
to the second general division of equations.
(B.)
Indeterminate equations.
As has been already stated, Diophantos does not in his Arithmetics, as we possess them, treat of indeterminate equations of the first degree. Those examples in the First Book
which would lead to such equations are, by the arbitrary assumption of one of the required numbers as if known, converted into determinate equations. It is possible that the
treatment of indeterminate equations belonged to the missing
portion which (we have reason to believe) has been lost between
I. and II. But we cannot with certainty dispute the view that Diophantos never gave them at all. For (as Nessel-
Books
mann
object
observes) as with indeterminate quadratic equations our

is
to obtain
a rational
result, so in
indeterminate simple
equations
we seek
to find a result in ivhole numbers.

is
But the
exclusion of fractions as inadmissible results

to our author; indeed
entirely foreign
we do not
find the slightest trace that he
ever insisted on such a condition.

first
We
take therefore as our
division indeterminate equations of the second degree.
I.
Indeterminate equations of the second degree.

in
which these equations occur in Diophantos is one or two (and never more) functions of the uid<nown quantity of the form A.x^ { Bx + G are to be made
universally this
:
The form
rational
s(|iiaro
mnnbers by finding a
suitable
value
for
x.
DIOPIIANTCJS
MKTIloDS OF SOUTlnX.
two equations
ol
<).-,
Tims we have
to deal with one or
the fuini
Ax^+Bx+ C = y\
(1)
Single equation.
single equation of the form
The
Ax"
-\-
Bx
-\-
C = if
takes
r
special forms
when one
or
more
of the coefficients vanish,
are subject to particular conditions.
It will be well to give in
order the different forms as they can be identified in Dio-
phantos, and to premise that for

uses the formula laov rerpaycovcp.
1.
"=/"
Diophantos
sim})l\'
is
the case
Equations which can always be solved rationallv. when ^ or C or both vanish.
This
Form Bx = f.
number =
Diophantos puts
y^
C'f
= any
iir.
arbitrary square
nr, say therefore
x=
2x
= f,
i/
1 (I,
x=S.
and x=
T-,
Form Bx + C = f.
Diophantos puts
for
any value
x,
m'',
He
admits fractional values of

i.e.
onlv takin<f
E.x.
care that they are "rational,"

III. 7.
rational and positive.
Form Ax' + Bx = f.
of.r, -a:; whence n and the root x=0
For
i/
Diophantos puts any multiple

.,x,
Ax+B=
being
II.
the factor x disappearinf?

as
usual.
tin
neglected
Therefore
x=
Hi
2.
,^"\
,. A ir
Exx.
22, 34.
Equations whose rational solution
is
only possible under
certain condition.s.
The
>/.
cases occurring in Diophantos are
Form
(a)
Ax"^
+ C=
is
This can be lationally solved accord-
ing to Diophantos
When A
positive and a square, say

_?/*,
a'.
Thus
therefore
oV
-f
C=
In this case
?/*
is
put
= (ax
in)*
a'x'
+ C=
(ax m)^
a-
m'
96
sign being always
(m and the doubtful

c
assumed
so as to give
a positive value).
{/3)
When C
is
positive
y^.
and a square number, say

?/
c*.
Tlius Aa;'
therefore
+r=
Here Diophantos puts

c^
= (mx
c)
Ax^ +
= (mx
cf,
A
(7)
lit'-
When
for
one solution
found.
is
known, any number of other

is
solutions can be
This
in
enunciated in
vi.
16 tlms,
though only
the case
which
is
negative:
"when
two numbers are given such that when one is multiplied by some square, and the other is s\ibtracted from the product, the result is a square number; another square also can be found, greater than the first taken square, which will have the same effect," It is curious that Diophantos does not give a general enunciation of this proposition, inasmuch as not only is it applicable to the cases Ax^ C^ = if, but to the general
form Ax^
-\-
Bx
-\-
G = y"'.
12 Diophantos does prove that the
In the
equation Ax^
i.e.
Lemma at vi. + C = y can
be solved when
^+C
is
a square,
the
in the particular case
when the value x = l

is
satisfies
equation.
III.
But he does not always bear
this in mind, for in
12 the equation o2x^
+ 12 = y^
-f
sible of solution,
although 52
12
So,
= G4,
ill.
pronounced to be imposa square, and a rational

13, 2(j(jx^
it.
solution
to
is
therefore possible.
a;
10 =
3/*
is
said
be impossible, though
=1
a;
satisfies
It is clear that, if
satisfies
the ciiuation,
(7
is
square, and therefore this case (7) includes the previous case
It is
(/?).
interesting to observe that in VI. 15 Diophantos
states that a rational solution of the equation
Ax' -' =
is
7/
impossible unless
A is
the
sum of two
squares^.
'
Nesselmann compares
Lpj,'cmlro, Tlirorie des
Xomhrrs,
p. GO.
DIOPHANTOS
Lastly,
MI-:TH01)S Ol' SOLI TloN.
!)7
we must consider the
Form Ax^ + Bx+C = y\

This equation can be reduced by means of a change of
variable to the previous form, wanting the second term.
if
Thus
we put
x=z
the transformation gives
^- +
Â
Diophantos, however, treats this form of the equation quite

separately from the other
rational solution
(a)
is
and
less fully.
According to him the
only possible in the following cases.

is
When A
positive
aV+ Bx +
C=y"; and Diophantos puts if=
and a square, or the equation is {ax + mf, whence

Exx.
II.
2am -B'
(yQ)
20, 21 &c.
When C
-\-
is
Ax^ + Bx
c'
= y-;
positive and a square, or the ccjuation is and Diophantos writes y' = {mx + c)^ whence
Y A - m'
is
Exx.
IV. 0,
10 &c.
(7)
When
but
it
\B'^
AG
is
positive
and a square number.

possibility of this
iv. 33.
Diophantos never expressly enunciates the

case:
occurs, as it
were unawares, in
In this
problem 3
+ ^x-\-\^ a? =
To
18
y'^
a;^
to
be made a square, and the ec|uation
comes under the present form.
solve this Diophantos assumes 3a;+ 18
j;* = 4x*
do
:
which
is
leads to the quadratic 3a;
18
ox^ =
0,
and
" the equation
not rational".
Hence the assumption

[to
4a/'
will not
"and we
must seek a square

square
replace 4] such that 18 times (this
1)
(f)"''
may be
a square".
Diophantos then solves

finding
this auxiliary eciuation 18 {x"
1)
+ = if,
;,'
x=
IS.
TIr-u
he assumes
3x+l8-a,'=(18)V,
which gives 325a;^
H. D.
3a;
18
0,
whence
Jc
= -^^.
7
98
It
is
interesting to observe that from this example of Dio-
phantos we can obtain the reduction of this general case to the
form At? + G^ = y^, wanting the middle term.

Thus, assume with Diophantos that
therefore
Ax^+Bx-^ C = m^x^,
by solution we have
B+
^
and X
is
rational provided
~t-
AC+ Cnf
is
a square.
This
B'^
condition can be fulfilled

case.
if
- AC he a square by a previous
Even
if
that
for
is
not the case, we have to solve (putting,
for brevity,
~ AG) the equation

D+
Cm'
= f.
Hence the reduction

(2)
is effected,
by the aid of Diophantos alone.
Double-equation.
the
name "double-equation" Diophantos designates the problem of finding one value of the unknown quantity x which
will
By
numbers.
make two functions of The Greek term
it
simultaneously rational square
for the
"double-equation" occurs
variously as Bnr\ola-6T7](; or BtTrXi}

solve the equations
caorij'i.
We
have then to
mx^ + ax +
nx'-{-
a= u'\
^x + b = w')
in rational numbers.
that each of the two expressions can severally be
This
is
is
The necessary preliminary condition is made squares. always possible when the first term (in x') is wanting.
it first.
This
the simplest case, and wc shall accordingly take
DIOPHANTOS MKTIKJDS OF SOLUTION.
})0
1.
Double equation of the
first degree.
Diophautos has one
distinct
method of solving the ociuations

II'
ax +
a=
^x + b=w'
taking slightly different forms according to the nature of the
coefficients.
(a)
First
method
of solution of
â;
+ b = wy
This method depends upon the equation
'-^J-P<I.
If the difference between the two functions can be separated

into
(
two
]
.
factors p, q, the functions themselves are equated to
Diophantos himself states his rule thus,
in
ii.
12:
"
Observing the difference between the two expressions, seek

is
two numbers whose product
equal to this ditfercncc
then
either equate the square of half the difterence of the factors to
the smaller of the expressions, or the square of half the
sum
to
the greater."
We
will take the general case,

is
and investigate
to,
what particular cases the method
applicable
from Dio-
phantos' point of view, remembering that his cases are such

that the final quadratic equation for w arising reduces always to
a simple one.
Take the equations

ax
/S./;
+ a= ii\ + i = n)\
(a
'
and subtracting we have

Let
(a
e
/8) x +
6) =
i^
w*.
+e =
7
'
a 13 = 8,
-6=
for brevity,
thou 8x
>
ui\
100
We
factors
have then to separate

be
,
B:c
+e
into
two
factors
let these
+p
and
\vc accordins^ly
write
p
u +
v
8x
1-
/hx
Thus
therefore
5-
SV
-\
2hxfe
{\p
+ p] +
/
fe
{
,, V =4 (ax + a). +p]

s
\p
Now
either
(1)
in order that this equation
may
reduce to a simple one,
the coefficient of x^ must vanish or 8

or
= 0,
therefore
= ^,
(2)
the absolute term must vanish.

~
Therefore
i^
=
e'
4a,
or
i.
p'
+ 2e/ +
4ap%
0.
e.
/ +2{a-h-2a)
Therefore
{p^
pi'
+ (a - 6)" =
4a6,
a + hf =
whence ah must be a square number.

Therefore either both a and h are squares, in which case
may
substitute for
:
them
c'
and d\ p being then equal
to c
we d,
or the ratio a
is
the ratio of a square to a square.
With
respect to (1)
we observe that on one condition

i.e.
it is
not necessary that S should vanish,

solving the equations,
provided
we
can, before
make
the coefficients of x' in both equal

or both
by multiplying either equation

plied by a square
is still
by a square number, an
operation which does not affect the problem, for a square multi-
a square.
DIOPHANTOS MI-yniODS OF SOLUTION.
101
Thus
satisfied
i/r
;
if
jo
=^
il
or aii^
= ^m^,
the coudition 8
will
n'
bo
by multiplying the equations respectively by

also solve the equations
and
and thus we can
like the equations

' ,v
+ = '^^l + b = w')
in
an
infinite
number
of ways.
(2),
Again the equations under
ax+ 6^= î^ ^x + d' = w\

can be solved in two different ways, according as we write them
in this
form or
in the
form
^c'x
c'd'
= 2U"
(T,
c*
obtained by multiplying them respectively by

that the absolute terms
in order
may
be equal.
We
(1)
now
give those of the possible cases which are found
solved in Diophantos'
of the form
own work.
These are equations
ant'x
+ a=
ii^]
a case which includes the more common one, when efficients of X in both are equal.
(2)
tiie
co-
of the form
^x + cP = 2uy
solved in two different ways according as they are thus written,
or in the alternative form,
ad\c
c'd^
u'
^c'x
+ c"d' = w
102
General solution of
Form
(1), or,
am
an
Multiplying respectively by
equations,
if,
nf,
we have
to
solve the
am^n^x
an^
= il^\
'
amVic + hm^ = w'^)

The
two
difiFercnce
aif
hm^.
%d
Suppose
this separated into
factors p, q.
Put
It'
p,
n T w' = q, whence
..^
(P
3)\
^r-
= (P-^)'
therefore
am'îfx
+ an^ = 9(
or
a'm^n^x
+ hm'^= \y^
x,
Either equation will give the same value of

p^
and
X
since
q^
arf
+
2
hmf
xmSi^
yq
= arf hnf.
factors p, q
is positive.
Any
obtained
may be
chosen provided the value of x
Ex. from Diophantos.
65- G=w') G5 - 24^ = to'}

,,
.
'
2G()
therefore
Oo
...
- 24.7- = w'-) ^, 24a; = w

.
The
difference
/ 15
195
15
13 say,
24a;
therefore
- 13
C-^^)
y ^ ^^^ _ ^^^^
64, or
a;
= .
DIOPHANTOS MKTHODS OF SOLUTION.

General solution
(first
1()3
method) of Form
(2), or,
oc
+ c" =
ii'^l
^x + d'' = 2o'y
In order to solve by this method, we multiply by
respectively
rf*,
c*
and write
(xd^x
^c'x u being the greater.
+ c'dr = n") + c\V = w")
'
The
diti:
{id'
/3r) x.
Let the factors of
this
be px,
7,
therefore
ii^=(&i+lJ\\
Hence x
is
found from the equation
This equation gives
j9V + 2x (pq - 2a^) +

or,
q"
^c'd'
= 0, = 0.
since
pq =
p'x'
ad^
y8c^
q'
2x {ad'
+ /Sr ) +
^c'd'
In order that
this
may
q'
reduce to a simple equation, as
Diophantos requires, the absolute term must vanish.

Therefore
whence
- ^c\l' = q = 2cd.
0,
Thus our method

2cd,
in this case furnishes us with only one
solution of the double-equation, q being restricted to the value
and
this solution is
_2
{ad:"
+ I3c') _ Sc'ff (gff + )9c')

This method
c'
is
Ex. from Diophantos.

particular case, IV. 45, w^here stand,
only used in one
= d'
u'\
'
as the equations originally
namely
8x+-i =
(jx+4>
= iv']
104-
is
the difference
2x and q
,
is
necessarily taken
2>/i
4,
and
the factors are ^

therefore
4,
8a;
+ 4 = r^ +
2j
and
rr
= 11 2.
(2),
General solution (second method) of
Form
or
Here the
brevity.
difference
={ol
^) x
(c^
(T)
hx
-\-
say, for
Let the factors oi dx

(p.
e\iQ p,
(c
h
d).
Then, as before proved
100),
must be equal to
Therefore the factors are
-/3
, oj
+c+
a, c
ft,
fZ
and we have
finally
\cd
kC
d.
two.
(^^)^'^+4.f<;;/>-fo,
which equation gives two possible values for x. Thus in this case we can find by our method two values of x, since one of the
factors, p,
may be
d.
III.
Ex. from Diophantos,
17
to solve the equations
10a;
+ 9 = w'^) 5a; + 4 = 10^ +

is
'
The
value
c
difference
5,
a;
is
here 5x
5,
and Diophantos chooses as
the factors
+ l.
The
This case therefore corresponds to the

solution
+d
of jj.
given by
(i-y= lOx +
!),
whence x -
28.
DIOPHANTOS METHODS OF SOLUTION.
105
The other value

it
(Z
of
jj is
in this case excluded, because

x.
would lead to a negative value of
any number of solutions of a double-equation when one solution is known does not seem to have been noticed by Diophantos, though he uses the prinpossibility of deriving ciple in certain special cases of the single equation.
The
Fermat
was the
be done,
first,
apparently, to discover that this might always
if
the equations
one value a of x were known, by substituting in x+ a for .v. By this means it is possible to find
if
a positive solution even

cations of the principle.
is
negative, by successive appli-
But nevertheless Diophantos had certain peculiar artifices by which he could arrive at a second value. One of these
artifices
(which
is
made
necessary in one case by the unsuit-
x by the ordinary method), employed in iv. 45, gives a different way of solving a doubleequation from that which has been explained, used only in
ableness of the value found for
a special case.
(/S)
Second method of solution of a double-equation of the
first
degree.
Consider only the special case
hx + if =
u^,
{h+f)x +
Take these
magnitude, denoting them
for
n^
= iu\
and write them
in order uf
C.
expressions, and
?^^
convenience by A, B,
A = {h+f)x + n\
,,
B = hx + n\
,
G = n\
therefore
A-B = f ^^^ A-B=fx
F^
5-
(7
= 1...
Suppose now
therefore
therefore
hx +
hx
if = {}j + nf, = y~ + 2ny,

^nij),
A-B = ^(if +
f
or
^=(2/+)' + ^(2/'+2ny),
it is
thus
only necessary to
make
this expression a s(|uarc.

106
Write therefore
(l
+ {) / +
2'^
({
1)2/
for y,
'^'
(Vy
- '')"'
for x,
whence any number of values found, by varying p.

Ex.
and therefore
can be
The only example

is
in
the Arithmetics
is
in iv. 45.
There
the additional condition in this case of a limit to the

X.
value of
The double-equation
8a;
Qx +
+ 4 = u^^ = vf
4!
has to be solved in such a manner that
x<1.
A B ~ Here ^
^
therefore
>
^^^
^^
taken to be {y
'
+ 2)^
^-5=^^^,
^ = 2^!+^^^ + ^^ + 4 + 4 = ^|-V -|^ + 4
1/
therefore
which must be made a square,

3^/^
-I-
or,
multiplying by f
square,
12t/
+9=a
where y must be <
2.
Diophantos assumes
32/^+123/
whence
and the value of
?/
+ 9 = (m2/-3r, 6w + 12
-^
.,
,
is
then determined so that
?/
<
2.
As we
this
1
find only a special case in

it
Diophantos solved by
to investigate the con-
method,
woidd be out of place

variable
Of course Diophantos uses the same

I
.r
where
have
for clearness
used y. Then, to express what
have called
in later,
he says:
"I form a square from 3 minus some number of x's and .r becomes some number multiplied by 6 together with 12 and divided by the dillerence by which the square of the number exceeds three,"

ditions
1()7
under which more general cases might be solved
in this
manner \
2.
Double equation of the second degree,
or the general form

Ace'
A'x''
+ Bx + C = 2i\ + B'x + C' = w\

less
These equations are much

tos
thoroughly treated in Diophan-
than those of the
first
degree.
Only such
special instances
occur as can be easily solved by the methods which we have described for those of the first degree.
separate case must be mentioned, which cannot be from Diophantos' standpoint, by the preceding method, but which sometimes occurs and is solved by a peculiar method.
solved,
One
The form
of double-equation being
ax'
+ ax =
u']
(1), (2),
^x'+bx = w'\
Diophantos assumes
whence from
(1)
X
and by substitution
a
in (2)
\~
-2 m a
aj
a'^
+ 7n
ha
must be a
square,
+ ha{m'-a)
IS
a square.
Therefore we have to solve the equation
abm^ + a
(/9a
ah) = if,
and
this
form can or cannot be solved by processes already
given according to the nature of the coefficients^

, .
OJ+bi
^^^
Bachet and after him Cossali proved the
pos.Kibility of solving
j\ "V
this
-
method under two
conditions.
Diophantos did not apparently observe that this form of e<iualion could be
108
Indeterminate equations of a degree liigher than the second.
(1)
II.
Single Equations.
These are properly divided by Nesselmann into two classes the first of which comprises those questions in which it is required to make a function of a; of a higher degree than the
second a square
;
the second comprises those in which a rational
value of X has to be found which will
make any
function of
cc,
not a square, but a higher power of some number.

class of
The
first
problems
is
the solution in rational numbers of
Aar + Bx""' +
the second the solution of
Ax''
for
+ Kx + L = f,
4-Kx + L = y\
+ Bx"-' +
Diophantos does not go beyond making a function of j; a Also in no instance of the first class does the index n cube.
exceed exceed
6,
3.
nor in the second class (except in a special case or two)
First class.
Equation
Ax''
5a;""'
+ Kx + L = y\
in Diophantos.
d"-
We
1.
give
now the forms found

Ax""
Equation
+ Bx^ + Cx +
= y\
for
Here we might
(the absolute
term being a square) put

in which case
y the expression mx + d, and determine of X in the resulting equation vanishes,
ni so that the coefficient
%nd =
and we obtain
giving ^ ^
in
G,
Q m=^
Diophantos' manner a simple equation for x,
_ G'-U'B
first
reduced to one of tbe
degree by dividing by x- and putting
?/
for
iu
wbich case
it
becomes
a
+ ay = u''-
p + by^w'^S'
Tbis reduction was given by Lagrange.
l(j!)
Or we might put
inine
for
y an expression
mV +
H.r
(/,
and
(k-ter-
m, n so that the coefficients of x, x'' in the resultiin' equation both vanish, whence we should again have a simple equation for x. Diophantos, in the only example of this furm of equation which occurs, makes the first supposition. Thus in
VI.
20 the equation occurs,
x'-Sx' + Sx +
and Diophantos assumes
2.
?/
i/,
i]
x-
1,
whence
x=^K
Equation
Ax*
+ Bx^ +
Cx"
+ Dx + E=tf.
solved by Diophantos'
If
In order that this equation

method, either
equal to a^
may be
a square.
ox
E must be
is
a square and
we may assume
y = ax^ +
If
is
x-\- n,
determining n so
that the term in x' vanishes.
Tm?+
^x +
e,
determining
^ a square (e^ we may write m so that the term in may

a-'
vanish in the resulting equation.

obtain a simple equation for
x, in
We
shall then in either case
Diophantos' manner.
The examples
a
of this form in Diophantos are of the kind,
V + Bx^ + 6V + Dx +
=
ax^
e'
= y;
x*,
where we can assume y
+ kx
e,
determining k so that
in the resulting equation (in addition to the coefficient of
and the absolute term) the coefficient of a;', or that of vanish, after which we again have a simple equation.
Ex.
IV.
a;,
may
29
9x'
4a;'
+ -
6a;'
- 12a; + 1 = y'.
=
anda; =
U.
Here Diophantos
to
assumes y
ox"
Ga;
1,
and the equation reduces

3Ga;'
32a-'
Diophantos
pression
result.
is
guided in his choice of signs
in
the ex-
aaf+kxehy the necessity more
for obtaining a "rational"
But
far
difficult to solve are those e<[uations in
which
(the left expression being bi-quadratic) the odd powers of
arc
wanting,
i.e.
the eciuations Ax*
Cx'
E= y',
and Ax* +
A*
= y*,
"
110
even when
-<4
or
is
a square, or both are
so.
These cases
Diophantos treats more imperfectly.

3.
Equation
this
Ace*
Ccc''
+ E = if.
cases.
Of
which
form we find only very special
The type
is
aV-cV + e'=2/',
is
written
Here
ii is ^
assumed
to be
x.
ax or - and X
,
in either case
we
have a rational value of

Exx.
V.
30
25*^
-9 +
25
2/^
This
is
assumed
to be
equal to 25a;^
V.
31
-^ c^
- 25 +
= y"-
assumed
to
be
= -7-^
4.
Equation
Ax''Ê =
if.
is
a;'*
The case occurring in Diophantos

tries
+ 97 = if.
finds
Diophantos
one assumption,
-i^,
_y
a;^
10,
and
that this gives
^=
of investigating in
which leads to no rational result. Instead however what cases this equation can be solved, he
first
simply shirks the equation and seeks by altering his original
assumptions to obtain an equation in the place of the one

found, which can be solved in rational numbers.
The
a;*
result is
that by altering his assumptions and working out the question
by
their aid he replaces the refractory equation,
+ 97 = y^,
by
the equatioQ x*
stitution
for y,
cc
+ 337 = f,
and
is
able to find a suitable sub-
solution
=
it,
'^.
namely o^ 25. This gives as the required For this case of Diophantos' characteristic
artifice of retracing his steps'
"back-reckoning,"
in the special
as Ncsscl-
mann
5.
calls
see
Appendix
v. 32.
Equation of sixth degree

a;
form
_ Ax" + Bx + c' = f.
"Methode der Zuriickrccbnung und Ncbcnaufgabe.

It is only necessary to
Ill
put y
= .7/ +
c,
whence
A.r'
+ B=
2cx*
and
if
^^'^
= 7",
IS
This gives Diophantos a rational solution
a square.
G.
If
however
this last condition does not hold, as in the
case
occurring
IV.
19,
x'^
- 16^' +
a;
64
?/^
Diophantos
back-reckoning," by which he is enabled to replace this equation by .*' 128a;' + a; + 409G = y*,
employs his usual
artifice of "
which
satisfies
-j^r.
the condition, and (assuming y
= x^-\- 04) x
is
found to be
Second Class.
Ax''
Equation of the form
+ Bx''~^ +
+Kx + L = y^.
= if,
where
it is
Except
for
such simple cases as Ax^='if, Ax*
only necessary to assume
y = mx, the
only cases which occur in
Diophantos are Ax^

1.
-^
Bx-\-
C= y^,
Ax^ + Ba? +
Cx+D = if.
Equation
Ax' + Bx + C = y\
a;*
4a: + 4
There are of this form only two examples. First, in vi. 1 is to be made a cube, being at the same time already
Diophantos therefore naturally assumes
8,
;c
a square.
2=a
is
cube number, say
whence
x= 10. A
cube
to be
2.
Secondly, in vi. 19 a peculiar case occurs.
found which exceeds a square by

(a;-l)^ for the cube,
a;'
Diophantos a.ssumes
the square, obtaining
and
2a;
a;'
(a^
l)^
for
- 3a;" + 3x -
= a;^ +
+ 3,
+
a;
or the equation
= 4a;* + 4,
previously mentioned (pp. 36, 93), which is satisfied by x = 4. The question here arises: Was it accidentally or not that this
cubic took so special and easy a form?
Were a;
l,a;
assumed with the knowledge and intention of finding such an equation ? Since 27 and 25 are so near each otlier and are, as Fermat observes \ the only integral numbers which satisfy the
1
Note
to VI.
I'J.
Fermatii Opera Math.
p.
I'.i'i.
112
conditions,
it seems most likely that it was in view of these numbers that Diophantos hit upon-the assumptions x + 1, x1, and employed them to lead back to a known result with all the
a general proof. Had this not been so, we should probably have found, as elsewhere in the work, Diophantos first leading us on a false tack and then showing us how we can in all cases The very fact that he takes the right correct our assumptions.
air of
assumptions to begin
witli
makes us suspect that the

is
solution
is
not based upon a general principle, but

2.
empirical merely.
The equation
Ax^+Bx-' + Gx
+ D^f.
= ax+
and we
If -4 or
is
a cube
number
this equation is easy of solution.
For,
first, if
A = a^
we have only
manner
to write
-^
arrive in Diophantos'
at a simple equation.
Secondly,
if
D = d?, we
put y
C = ^^ x+
d.
If the equation is a^x^
+ Bx^ + Cx + d^ = y^, we can use
either
assumption, or put
equation.
y=ax + d,
obtaining as before a simple
he
Apparently Diophantos only used the last assumption for rejects as impossible the equation y^=8x' x^+8xl
;
because y = 2x l gives a negative value a; = ^y, whereas either of the other assumptions give rational values
(2)
Double-equation.
There are a few examples in which of two functions of x one is to be made a square, the other a cube, by one and the same rational value of x. The cases arc for the most part very simple, e.g. in vi. 21 we have to solve
4x 2x
therefore
1
+ 2=y'' + l=z''
to be
1)
?/'
^z^,
and z
is
assumed
C aud
2.
There
is
a special case in which
vanish, Ax'^ + Bx- = y'K
Here y
is
put
mx
and
x-
.,
-A
Cl'.
iv. 0, 30.
DIOPHANTOS' METHODS OF SOLUTION.
\l:\
rather more complicated case
is
vi.
23,
where we have
the double equation
of
+ 2x- + X = 2^\' = moc,

wheuce
Diophantos assumes
)j
x= ^
2
,
and we have
to solve the single equation

/
W-2)
To make 2m* a
2 .^/^^_y ^^\m^-2) "^ nT^l
^ (m-2f
cube,
= ^.
2in a cube, or put
we need only make
m = 4.
This gives for x the value f

case
The general
Ax' + Bx^+ Cx = z\
hx^
ex =y^>
difficult
;
would, of course, be
much more
X
for,
putting
i/
nix,
we
find
and we have
to solve
or
Ccm* + c(Bc- 2b C) m"
+ hc{hC-Bc) + A c' = u\
is
of which equation the above corresponding one
a very parti-
cular case.
3.
Summari/ of the preceding
investigation.
We may
1.
sum up
briefly the results of our investigation of

tiius.
first
Diophantos' methods of dealing with equations
Diophantos
solves
completely equations of the

in
degree, but takes pains beforehand to secure that the solution

shall be positive.
He
shows remarkable address

first
reducing a
number
of simultaneous equations of the
degree to a single
equation in one variable.

H. D.
114
2.
For determinate equations of the second degree Dio-
phantos has a general method or rule of solution. He takes however in the Arithmetics no account of more than 07ie root,
even when both roots are positive rational numbers.

object
is
But
his
always to secure a solution in rational numbers, and
therefore
we need not be
surprised at his ignoring one root of a
quadratic, even though he

3.
knew
of its existence.
No
equations of a higher degree than the second are
found in the book except a particular case of a cubic.

4.
Indeterminate equations of the
first
degree are not
treated in the work as

of the second degree,
in the case
we have it, and indeterminate equations e.g. Aaf + Bx -\-G = y', are only fully treated
or
where
"
vanishes, in the
more general
cases
more
5.
imperfectly.
For
double-equations
"
of the second degree he has a
definite
method when the

;
coefficient of x^ in
both expressions
is
vanishes
this
however
is
not of quite general application, and
supplemented in one or two cases by another

application.
artifice of particular
Of more complicated
conditions
cases
we have only
for
a few
examples
method.
6.
under
favourable
solution
by his
Diophantos' treatment of indeterminate equations of
higher degrees than the second depends upon the particular

conditions of the problems, and his methods lack generality.
7.
After
all,
more wonderful than
his actual treatment of
equations are the extraordinary artifices by which he contrives

to avoid such equations as he cannot theoretically solve, e.g.
his
by
device of " Back-reckoning," instances of which, however,

in this
would have been out of place
chapter, and can only
be studied in the problems themselves.
I shall, as I said before,
4.
not attempt to class as methods
what Nesselmann has

reflection,"
tried so to describe, e.g. "Solution
by mere
"solution in general expressions," of which there
are few instances definitely described as such
by Diophantos,
It
is
and
" arbitrary
determinations and assumptions."
clear that
" is
the most that can be done to formulate these " methods
the
.')
1 1
enumeration of a few instances. This is what Ncssclmann has done, and he himself regrets at the end of his chapter on "Methods of solution" that it must of necessity be so incomplete.
To understand and appreciate these
artifices of
Diophantos
it
is
necessary to read the problems themselves singly, and for these I refer to the abstract of them in the Appendix. As for the
"
Use
of the right-angled triangle," all that can be said of a

is
general character
that rational right-angled triangles (whose
sides are all rational
numbers) are alone used
in Diophantos,
and that accordingly the introduction of such a right-angled triangle is merely a convenient device to express the problem of
finding two square
numbers whose sum

for the sides of
is
also a square
number.
The general forms

c^ -f
h^,
a right-angled triangle are
a^
1>\
2ab,
which
clearly satisfy the condition
{a'
+ by={a'-b'f + {2abY.
b."
It is
The
by
expression of the sides in this form Diophantos calls "form-
ing a right-angled triangle from the numbers a and

this
time unnecessary to observe that Diophantos does not

a, b 7,
2',
use general numbers such as
but particular ones.
a right-angled triangle from

triangle whose sides are
7'^
2 "
7"
" Forming means taking a right-angled

2'^
2,
or o3, 4o, 28.
5.
Method of
Limits.
As Diophantos
often has to find a series of

:
numbers
in
ascending or descending order of magnitude

not admit negative solutions,
reject a solution
it
is
as also he does
often necessary for
him
to
which he has found by a straightforward method, in order to satisfy such conditions he is then very frequently obliged to find solutions of problems which lie within certain
;
limits in order to replace the ones rejected.

1.
very simple case
is
the following: Required to find a

x", shall lie
value of X such that some power of it,

assigned limits, given numbers.
between two
a, b.
Let the given numbers bo
Then Diophantos' method
is
Multiply a and 6 both succes.sively
by 2", 3", and so on until some (nf' power is seen which lies between the two products. Thu.s suppose c" lith between up' and /*//
62
Il6
then we can put
in
which case the condition

6.
is satisfied,
P
for(-|
&
Exx.
:
lies
between a and
IV.
In
34 Diopbantos
thus
he multiplies by a square, 64
is
(lo)'^
and 128; 100

hence
between f and 2 limits 80 clearly a square lying between these limits

finds a square
;
thus
we have the
Here
and
82,
or f| satisfies the condition of lying between | and 2. of course Diophantos might have multiplied by any
other square, as 16, and the limits would then have become 20
between which there
lies
the square 25, and so
we
should have f again as the square required. In VI. 23 a sixth power (a " cube-cube ")
lies
is
required which
first
between 8 and
16.
1, 64,
Now
the sixth powers of the
natural numbers are

in rule)
729, 409 6... Multiply 8
by 2 or 64 and we have as 729 lies between them therefore "^^-^^ was required. To multiply by 729 in
;
and 16 (as limits 512 and 1024, and is a sixth power such as
this case
would not give
us a result.
2.
Other problems of finding values of x agreeably to
certain limits cannot be reduced to a general rule.
By
giving,
however, a few instances,
we may
give an idea of Diophantos'

Q
methods
Ex.
lies
in general.
1,
In
IV,
26
it
is
necessary to find x so that
x'
between x and x+l. The first condition gives 8 Diophantos accordingly assumes
8
>
a;''
+x + a;^
= {x+lY = x' + x' + + Jj,

'^^
which
is
is
>x''
+ .c\
Thus x = ^
satisfies
one condition.
a;
-f-
It also
seen to satisfy the second, or -5-
+X
<
1
it
but Diophantos '

turns out to be
practically neglects this condition,

satisfied.
though
The method
is,
therefore, hero imperfect.
Ex.
2.
Find a value of x such that

x>y^x''-C)0)<l-(x'-(y()),
or
x^
60 > ox,
x^
- 60 <
'Sx.
DIOPIIANTOS' MKTIIODS
()F
SOLrTIuX.
II7
Hence, says Diophantos,

already spoken
(pp.
00,
rr is <(: 11 nor > 12. Wi- liave 91) of the reasoning by which h.-
arrives at this result (by taking only one root of the quadratic,
and taking the nearest integral limits). It is that a? 60 shall be a square. Assuming then
a;^
also required
- 60 =
{x
- mf, x =
^ 2m
lie
which must be > 11 <
12, Avhence
m'
and
+ 60 >
x''
22m, m" + 60 < 2hn, between 10 and

21.
is
(says Diophantos) in
must therefore
Accordingly he writes
- 60 = (x - 20)^ and x =
llh, which
a value of x satisfying the conditions.
6.
Method of Approximation to
come now
to a very distinctive
Limits.
method called by DioThe object of this is to find two or three square numbers whose sum is a given number, and each of which approximates as closely as possible to one and the same number and therefore to each other. This method can be best explained by giving Diophantos' two instances, in the first of which two such squares, and in the
phantos
7rapia6T7]<i or irapiaorrjro'; dywyjj.
We
second three are required.
In cases like this the principles
cannot be so well described with general symbols as with concrete numbers, whose properties are immediately obvious, and
render separate expression of conditions unnecessary.
Ex.
1.
Divide 18 into two squares each of which >

\^
6.
Take
or 6i
and
find
what small
fraction -^
added
to
it
makes
is
it
a square
thus 6^
+ -^ must be a
X
square, or 26
4-
-,
a square.
Diophantos puts
26
\_
[^+l)\
or
26/ +
=(5^+
1)',
whence
?/ J
10 and
y'
t.W. '""
!"
J-
in,'
""'
*''
*"
i^>'>
~ ^
118
square
for
= (f l)^
[The assumption of {oy
+
y
1)^
is
not arbitrary,
^
,
assume
26?/^
{py
+ l)^
therefore
=^ ^
and, since
- should be a small proper fraction, therefore 5
is
the most
y
suitable or p^
to
and the smallest possible value for ^^, 26

2jj
p-
being
<
Ip
>
27.]
It
is
now
necessary
(says Diophantos)
divide 13 into two squares whose sides are each
as near
as possible to |^.
Now
the sides of the two squares of which

2,
18
is
by nature
compounded are 3 and

3
2
and
is
is
> <
fi by
^1
f^ by lî
Now
their
if
-g^,
+^
were taken as the sides of two squares
sum would be
2^^601
^^^
400
'
which
is
>
13.
Accordingly Diophantos puts

3
9a;,
ll.r,
for the sides of the required squares,
where x
is
therefore not
exactly
^ but
near
it.
Thus, assuming
(3 -9a:)'
+
x
(2
+ 11a;)' = 13,
y^. f^.
Diophantos obtains
Thus the
Ex.
is 2.
sides of the required squares are \^\,
Divide 10 into three squares such that each square
>3.
Take
to it will
ô or
3^ and find what fraction of the form

it
added
make
a square,
i.e.
make 30 +
9
-^
a square or Wy'^
1,
3 where I
DIOPHANTdS' METHODS OF SOLUTION.

Diophautos writes
Ill)
30/ +
(r)y
1)-,
whence y =
and
^*And
3^
+ ^V = a
if
square
'^'
[As before,
we assume
30//^
{py
+ 1)*,
30
;:>''
Z"'
and since - must be a small proper

or
fraction,
should
<
2y;
p^+
2jj
For
this
and 5 is the smallest reason Diophantos chooses it.]

81,
+1>
possible value of p.
We
Now
and
3,
required squares as near as
have now (says Diophantos) to make the sides of the may be to y.
10=9+l = 3^+(f)^+(|)^
4 are the sides
(3,
f,
of three squares
whose sum =
10.
Bringing
f 4) and
,
y
(f^,
to
a common denominator, wo have
^, M) and M.
Now
3is>ffbyf,
If then
we took
is<M by M. f is<Mby M3 - f^, f + f, f + fi

f
for the sides, the
sum
would be 3 (y )* or ^{f, which is > 10. Diophantos accordingly assumes as the sides of the three required squares
of their squares
Zox,
+ 37a-,
37a,f
31a-,
where x must therefore be not exactly

Solving
or
(3
^'^,
but near
it.
- rox)' +
(f +
+ (4 + 3U-)^ = 10,
10-llG.t-+3555a;'=10,
x = ^-^
;
we have
the required sides are therefore found to be
sw.
and the squares
w.
sw>
'UM^^> VW^'. "Mi^-
The two
instances here given, though only instiinces, serve
perfectly to illustrate the
method of Diophantos. To have put them generally with the use of algebniical symbols, nistead <f
120
concrete numbers,
duction of a large
would have rendered necessary the introof such symbols, and the number of conditions (e.g. that such and such an expression shall be a square) which it would have been necessary to express would have nullified all the advantages of this general treatment. As it only lies within my scope to explain what we actually
number
find in Diophantos' work, I shall not here introduce certain
investigations
embodied by Poselger in
Analysis," published
his article " Beitrage zur in
TJnbestimmten
the
Ahhandlungen
der Koniglichen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin
Aus dem
Jahre 1832, Berlin, 1834.

entitles
One
section of this paper Poselger
in
"Annaherungs-methoden nach Diophantus," and obtains upon Diophantos' principles \ a method of approximation to the value of a surd which will furnish the same results as the method by means of continued fractions, except that the approximation by what he calls the " Diophantine method " is quicker than the method of continued fractions, so that it may serve to
it,
expedite the latter ^
"Wenn wir den Weg des Diophantos verfolgen." "Die Diopliantisehe Mctbode kann also dazii diencn, Partialbriiche des Kettenbruchs zu beschlcunigen."
^
die
Convergcnz der
K^r.r^.
CHAPTER
1.
VI.
THE PORISMS OF DIOPIIANTOS.

(in
We
have already spoken
the Historical Introduction)
of the Porisms of Diophantos as

distinct part of the
having probably foiined a
work of our author. We also riiscussed the question as to whether the Porisms now lost formed an integral portion of the Arithmetics or whether it was a completely separate treatise.
What remains for us to do under the head of Diophantos' Porisms is to collect such references to them and such enunciations of definite porisms as are directly
If we confine our list of Porisms to those name by Diophantos, it docs not therefore
given by Diophantos.
given under that
follow that
many
other theorems enunciated, assumed or implied
in the extant work, but not distinctly called Porisms,
may
not
with equal propriety be supposed to have been actually propounded in the Ponsm^. For distinctness, however, and in
order to
make our assumptions
perfectly safe,
it
will
be better
to separate
what are actually called porisms from other theorems implied and assumed in Diophantos' problems.
I shall not First then with regard to the actual Porisms. attempt to discuss here the nature of the proposition which was called a porism, for such a discussion would be irrelevant to my purpose. The Porisms themselves too have been well
enumerated and explained by Nesselmann in his tenth chapter; also given, mth few omissions, the chief of the other theorems assumed by Diophantos as known. Of necessity, therefore, in this section and the next I shall have to cover
he has
very
much
be.
the same ground, anil shall acconliugly bo
a.s
brief us
may
122
Porism
1.
occurs in v.
by Diopbantos bave from tbe Porisms tbat if eacb of two numbers and tbeir product wben severally added to tbe same number produce squares, the numbers are the squares This theorem is not correctly of two consecutive numbers \" enunciated, for two consecutive squares are not the only two
The
first
porism enunciated
3.
He
says "
We
numbers which
x
will satisfy the condition.
For suppose
+ a = m\
first
y + a = n^, xy+a= p^.

two equations we find
Now
and
by help of the xy
+ a= m^n^ a {m^ + n^ \)+ a^

]f.
this
is
equal to
In order that
l)-\-d^
m\^ a {m^ + n^
may be
sufficient condition is
a square certain conditions must be satisfied.
One
m^ +
or
1 = 2inn, m n = + 1,
?i"
and
this is Diopbantos* condition.
But we may
also regard
rrrn
2,8
a {m?
71"
1)
a''
= p^
we know one
as an indeterminate equation in
solution,
m
1.
of which
namely
m=n
for
{re
Other solutions are then found by substituting z m, whence we have the equation
{ii
1)
-a)z'
+2
{n' (n
l)-a{nl)}z +
(w
{ii'
- a)
{n
If
1)
- a(?r
or
{7i'
+ a'^ = p^,
a) / + 2 {n' - a)
1) ^
+ {n (n
1) - af = p\
which
is
easy to solve in Diopbantos' manner, the absolute term
being a square.
But
in the problem V. 3 tlwee
numbers are required such
that each of them, and the product of each pair, severally added
^
Kal iirel ^xoM*"
^''
'''O'S
irophixaffiv,
ttoltj
on
(of hvo
dpiO/Jiol
iKarepds re Kai 6
vir^
avTuiv /nerd rod avTov SoOivTos

KOLTk Tb ^f ijs.
Tfrpdycovov, yt-ybvaaiv dwb Svo
reTpayuvuv rwv
THE PORISMS OF DIOPHANTOS.

to a given
123
number produce
squares.
Thus,
if
the third
number
zx-\-a,
be
if
z,
three more conditions must be added, namely, z
+ ,
yz + a should be squares.
The two
last conditions are satisfied,
m + 1 = n,
by putting
z
= 2{a; + y) 1 =
xz
when
4/m" + 4??i + 1 4a, + a= {m {2m + 1) - Sa}", yz + a= {m {2m + 3) - (2a -
l)f
affected the
and
this
means of
satisfying the conditions
may have
formulating of the Porism.

V.
4 gives another case of the Porism with

"
for
+ a.
We have in the Porism 2. In V. 5 Diophantos says* Porisms that in addition to any two consecutive squares we can
,
find another
number which, being double
of the
sum
of both
and increased by 2, makes up three numbers, the product of any pair of which ^lus the sum of that pair or the third
number produces a
square,"
i.e.
m\
m^
2??i
( 7?i'
+ m + l),
of in the follow-
are three numbers which
satisfy the conditions.
The same porism

ing problem,
v. 6.
is
assumed and made use
Porism 3 occurs
enunciation
is
in v. 19.
Unfortunately the text of the

is "
corrupt, but there can
correct statement of the porism
The
be no doubt that the difference of two cubes
can be transformed into the
sum
of two cubes."
Diophantos
contents himself with the mere enunciation and does not proceed to effect the actual transformation. Thus we do not know
his
a perfectly general theorem.

Vieta, Bachet
1
he was able to prove the porism as The theorems upon the transformation of sums and differences of cubes were investigated by
method, or how
far
and Format.
(v toZs wopifffMacriv
Kal txoiJô
irdXi;/
on
iraai 56o Ttrpaywvoif toTj (tori t6 iint

<jvv<ifj.<t>oripov
irpo<TevplaKTai irepos dptOubs 8i a)c

apidfiodi TTOtei tSv 6
divXaaiuv
Kal SvUt.
fxtiiuiv,
t/xji
vwd
6iroiu}vo!}i>
idvTe
<> irpoffXdiir] avvan<p!)Ttpov, iatnt Xoiw-di-
TeTpd-ywvov.
124
Vieta gives three problems on the subject
1.
^
(Zetetica iv.).
Given two cubes, to find in rational numbers two others whose sum equals the difference of the two given ones. As a solution of a^-I/ = x^ H- y^, he finds
^2.
_ a{a'-^h') a' + h'
'
y~
hjâ'ja'
If)
'
+ b'
Given two cubes,
to find in rational
numbers two
others,
+0 -X
y,
X-
^3_^,
^,_^,
3.
others,
Given two cubes, to find in rational numbers two whose difference equals the difference of the given ones;
a
In
-u -X
1 clearly
y,
X-
^3_^^3
if
y-
^^,_^^,
is
negative
2b^>a^', therefore, to secure a

for
"rational" result,
(v-j
>
2.
But
a "rational" result in 8 we
must have exactly the opposite

apparently was the
first to
condition, t5
<
2.
Fermat, who
notice this, remarked that in con-
sequence the processes

1
and 3 exactly supplement each other,

He
gets,
Poselger {Berlin Abhandhuigcn, 1832) has obtained tlicse results.
e.g. the first as follows:
Assume two cubes {a-xf, (mx-j3f, which are to sum = a3 - /33. (a-x)^ = a^-3a-x + 3ax--x\ Now
(fftx
be taken so that their
- /3)3 = - /33 + 3?/3-x -
3i''/3x2
+ mâ?.
If
then
G)'
3(TO2/3-a)
Sap'
and
THB PORlSMS OP DIOPHANTOS.

SO that
125
effect the trans-
by employing them successively we can

1,
formation of
even when
Process 2
is
always possible, therefore by the suitable com-
bination of processes the transformation of a

into a difference, or a difference of
others,
is
sum of two cubes two cubes into a sum of two

many
other propositions
always practicable.
the
Po)nsins, there
Besides
are
assumed or implied by Diophautos which are not definitely called porisms, though some of them are very similar to the
porisms just described.
2.
Theorems assumed or implied by Diophantos.

rightly distinguishes two classes, the
Of these Nesselmann
first
being of the nature of identical formulae, the second
theorems relating to the sums of two or more square numbers, &c.

1.
The
first class
do not require enumeration in
detail.
We
may mention one
or
two examples,
e.g.
that the expressions

are squares, and that
C^-)
a
{a^
- ah
-\-
and
a" (a -h 1)'
+ a' + (a + 1)"
a)
(a^
a)
is
always a cube.
Again, Nesselmann thinks that Diophantos

separation
of a'
made
use of the
v. 8, in
1/
into
factors in
the solution of
which he gives the result without clearly showing his mode though its separability into of procedure in obtaining it factors is nowhere expressly mentioned, and is not made use of
;
in certain places
it, e.g.
where we should most naturally expect
to find
in iv. 12.
are the
But ftxr more important than these identical formulae numerous propositions in the Theory of Numbers which we find stated or assumed as known in the Arithmetics. It is, in general, in explanation or extension of these that Fermat
2.
wrote his famous notes.

is
So
far as
Diophantos
is
concerned
far
it
extremely
difficult,
(jr
rather impossible, to
.say
how
these
126
him upon rigorous mathematical demonand how far, on the other hand, his knowledge of them was merely empirical and derived only from trial in particular cases, whereas he enunciates them or assumes them to hold in all possible cases. But the objection to assuming that Diophantos had a completely scientific system of investigating these propositions, as opposed to a merely empirical knowledge
propositions rested for
stration,
of them, on the ground that he does not prove
them
in the
o-svn
present treatise, would seem to apply equally to Fermat's
theorems set forth in these notes, except in so

to
far as
we might
be inclined to argue that Diophantos could not, in the period
which he belongs, have possessed such machinery of demon-
stration as Format.
Even supposing
this to
be true, we should
be very careful in making assertions as to what the ancients could or could not prove, when we consider how much they
did actually accomplish.
of proof,
And, secondly, as regards machinery

that up to Fermat's time there had
we have seen
little
been very
notation.
advance upon Diophantos in the matter of
It will be best to
enumerate here
in order the principal
propositions of this kind which

in each case
we
find in
is
Diophantos, observing
any
indication,
which
It
perceptible, of the extent
which we
may
to
suppose Diophantos' knowledge of the Theory of

will
Numbers
have reached.
be necessary and useful
to refer to Fermat's notes occasionally.
The question
this
is
of the merits of Fermat's notes themselves
not
the
place
to
inquire
into.
It
is
well
known
that he almost universally enunciates the theorems contained
inserting the proofs that his
and gives as his reason for not margin was too small, and so on. It is considered, however, that as his theorems are always true, he must necessarily have proved them rigorously. Concerning this statement I will only remark that in the note to v. 25 Format addresses himself to the solution of a problem which was " most difficult and had troubled him a long time," and
in these notes without proof,
Of this says that he has at last found a general solution. he gives a demonstration wliich is hopelessly wrong, and which
vitiates the solution completely.
THE PORISMS OF DIOPHANTOS.

(a)
27
Theorems in Diophantos respecting

the
the comjyosition
of
numbers as
sum of two
squares.
be resolved into two squares in
1. Any square number can any number of ivays, li. 8, 9.
2.
Any number
luhich is the
sum of two
squares can be
u. 10.
resolved into two other squares in
any number of ways,
N.B.
It is implied
throughout that the squares may be
fractional, as well as integral.

3.
sum of tiuo
The
If there are two whole numbers each of tuhich is the squares, their product can be resolved into the sum of
iii.
two squares in two ways,

object of
ill.
22.
22
is
to find four rational
right-angled
is
triangles having the
same hypotenuse.
The method
this.
Form two
viz.
right-angled triangles from
(a, b), (c, d) respectively,
a==
c'
+ b\ + d',
a'
- b\
2ab,
2cd.
c'-cr,
Multiplying
other,
all
the sides of each by the hypotenuse of the

triangles having the
we have two
{a'
(a'
same hypotenuse,
2ab{c'
+ h'){c'+d^),
{a'-b'){c'
(a'
+ b')
(c'+
cf),
+ b')
{&
+ d?l - d'),
2cd
(a^
+ d'), + b').
Two
other triangles having the same hypotenuse are got by

viz.
using the theorem enunciated,

(a'
+ )
(c'
+ d') = (ac
bdf + (ad +
bd, acl
be)',
and the triangles are formed from ac
be,
being
+ b') (c* + d'), {a' + 6") {c' + d'),

(a'
+ (rr - b') âbcd - {a' - b')

4abcd
- d"), (c' - d'),

(c'
+ bd) {ad - be), 2 {ac - bd) {ad + be).

2 (ac
In Diophantos' case
a'
+ b' = V + = 5, d' + d'=2' + :i'=U;

2"-
and the triangles are

(65, 52, 39),
(65, 60, 2o),
(65, 63. 16),
(65,
c>i>,
33).
128
[If
fails.
certain relations hold
between
a,
h,
c,
this
method
Diophantos has provided against them by taking two right(3, 4, 5), (5,
angled triangles viro iXaxô-Toov dptOfiwv
12, 13)].
Upon
this
problem Fermat remarks that
(1) a
prime number
of the form ^n
+1
can only be the hypotenuse of a right-angled

it
triangle in one way, the square of

(2)
in two ways,
&;c.
prime number made up of two squares be multiplied by another prime also made up of two squares, the product can be divided into two squares in two ways if the first is mulIf a
;
tiplied
by the square of the second, in three ways, &c. Now we observe that Diophantos has taken for the hypotenuse of the first two right-angled triangles the first tiuo prime numbers of the form 4n + 1, viz. 5 and 13, both of which numbers are the
sum
of two squares, and, in accordance with Format's remark,
they can each be the hypotenuse of one single right-angled It does not, of course, follow from this selection triangle only.
of 5 and 13 that Diophantos was acquainted with the theorem
that every prime number of the

squares.
But,
form 4?i + 1 is the sum of two when we remark that he multiplies 5 and 13
it is
together and observes that the product can form the hypotenuse
of a right-angled triangle in four ways,
very hard to resist
the conclusion that he was acquainted with the mathematical

facts stated in
Format's second remark on this problem.

also
For
clearly 65
is
the smallest
number which can be the hypotenuse

;
of four rational right-angled triangles

find out this fact simply
Diophantos did not

to
by
it
trijing all
numbers up
G5
on
first
the contrary he obtained
by multiplying together the
two prime numbers of the form 4?j-f- 1, in a perfectly scientific manner. This remarkable problem, then, serves to show pretty conclusively that Diophantos bad considerable knowledge of the properties of numbers which arc the sum of two squares.
4.
Still
more remarkable
is
a condition of possibility of
solution prefixed to the problem v. 12.
The
object of this
if
problem
is
"to divide 1 into two parts such that,
a given
number
is
added
to
either part, the result will be a square."

is
Unfortunately the text of the added condition
very
much
THE PDKISMS
corrupted.
(^F
Dlnl'HANTOS.
first
1l>!
words, "
no doubt, however, about the The given number must not be odd."
is
There
few
i.e. No number of the form 4/i-|- 3 [or 4 - 1] can be the sum of two squares. The text, however, of the latter half of the condition is, in
Bachet's edition, in a hopeless state, and the point cannot be

settled without a fresh consultation of the Mss.^
The
true con-
dition
be odd,
is
given by Fermat thus.

the double
"
The given number mu.st not
and
greatest square which
of it increased by one, when, divided by the measures it, mu^st not be divisible by a
pnme number
of the form 4h 1." (Note upon v. 12; also in a There is, of course, room for any number of conjectures as to what may have been Diophantos' words'.
letter to Roberval).
There would seem to be no doubt that in Diophantos' condition there was something about "double the number" (i.e. a number of the form 4n), also about "greater by unity" and "a prime number." From our data, then, it would appear that, if Diophantos did not succeed in giving the complete sufficient and
necessary condition stated by Fermat, he must at
all
events have
made a
1
close
approximation to
8r]
it.
Bachet's test has bel

fiâ. fjceLôva
tov
.
diS6iJLevoi>
fj
n-qn irepiaaov
iXvai, firire
6 BiirXafflui'
avTov q
^r)
fxipos 5
fxerpdrai viro rot a".

/nTjre
s".
He
also says that a Vatican ms. reads
6 diirXajlujv avrov api9iJ.ov fioudSa
d. fiellôva
^XV M^pos Tiraprov, fj neTpelrai viro tov irpwrov apiO/j-ov. Neither does Xylander help us much. He frankly tells us that he cannot
'
'
understand the jmssage.

(ut aiunt) est
Imitari statueram bonos grammaticos hoc loco,
quorum
multa nescirc.
irpocoi.opi.dfiov,
Ego vcru
noscio hoic
non multa, scd pacnc omnia.

avrov ap no
a,
Quid enim
(ut reliqua
taccam) est
/xrjTe
6 onrXaalijsv
?
&c. quae
causae liuius
*
quae processus
immo
qui processus, quae operatic,

to correct the text,
quae solutio?"
Nesselmann discusses an attempt made by Schulz

nrfre rbv 8nr\affiova avrov apiOnov
and
not
himself suggests
rpeirai vir6
/xovdSi fitlôva fxîv, 6s fie-
rivoi irpurov api.6y.ov.
But
this ignores /i^pos riraprov
and
is
satisfactory.
Haukel, however (Gesch.d. Math. p. 169), says: "Ich zweifele nicht, dass die von den Msscr. arg entstellte Determination so zu lesen ist: Sei Si) rbv 5iW/i*ror
Urire ntpicabv ehai,
iino
/J-rire
rov dnrXacrlova ai/Tou apiOnbv
fjLovdSi
fitlôva fitrptiadcu
d ixdûv IxV t'-^po^ TirapTov." Now this correction, which exactly gives Fermat's condition, seems a decidedly probable one. Here the words p.ipos rirapTov find a place; and, secondly, the rept'tition of tov for tov is of course natural liovaSi d ndûv might well confuse a copyist, enough Nesselmann reads nvos for tov.
TOV
irpil)Tov apid/iov, 8s aj' /louadi
;
H.
I).
130
We
number
and
thus see (a) that Diophantos certainly

of the form
4??.
knew
of
3 could be the
sum
that no two squares,
(b) that he had, at least, advanced a considerable way towards the discovery of the true condition of this problem, as
quoted above from Fermat.
(6)
On numbers
v.
luhich are the
sum of three
is
squares.
In the problem
unity
14 a condition
stated by Diophantos
respecting the form of a
clearly
makes each of 3a + 1 must be divisible into three Respecting the number a Diophantos
2."
i.
number which added to three parts of them a square. If a be this number,

squares.
says "It
must not be
2 or any multiple of 8 increased by

e.
squares.
a number of the form 24>i + 7 cannot be the sum of three Now the factor 3 of 24 is irrelevant here, for with respect to three this number is of the form 3w + 1, and this so
far as
is
concerned might be a square or the
sum
3 in
of
two or
three squares.
Hence we may neglect the

credit
factor
24/i.
We
must therefore
Diophantos with the knowledge of
the fact that no number of the

three squares.
form 8n + 7 can
be the
sum of
This condition
is
true,
but does not include
all
the
numbers
which cannot be the sum of three squares, for it is not true that all numbers which are not of the form 871 + 7 are made up Even Bachet remarked that the number a of three squares. might not be of the form 32?i -)- 9, or a number of the form
9G>i+ 28 cannot be the sum of three squares. Fermat gives the conditions to which a must be subject
thus:
Write down two geometrical
series
(common
1024 8192
ratio of each 4),

1, 8,
the hrst and second series beginning respectively with
14
8
16
32
128
C4 512
256 2048
4096 32768
then a must not bo (1) any number obtained by taking twice liny term of tlu' ii[)per scries ami adding all the preceding terms,
THE PORISMS OF DIOPHAN'TOS.

or (2) the
l.'H
number found by adding
to the
numbers
so obtained
series.
any multiple of the correspondino: term of the second Thus (a) must not be,
+ 2.1 + 2.4 + 1 128n + 2.1G + 4<+ ol2n + 2.64 + 16 +

8?i
8"
2,
32/1
= 32 + 9, =128n + 87, = 512n + 149,

which, though
&c.
Again there are other problems,
e.g. v. 22, in
conditions are necessary for the possibility of solution, none are
mentioned; but suitable assumptions are tacitly made, without by which they must be guided. It does not follow from the omission to state such rules that Diophantos was ignorant
rules
of even the minutest points connected with
them
as
however
we have no
definite statements,
it is
best to desist from specula-
tion in cases of doubt.
(c)
Goinposition of naniberti an the

is either
sum offour
the
squares.
Every number
four squares.
a square or
sum of
two, three or
This Avell-known theorem, enunciated by Format
in his note to Diophantos iv. 31, shows at once that
any number
can be divided into four squares either integral or fractional,
number can be divided into two other squares, We have now to look for indications in the Arithmetics as to how far Diophantos was acquainted with the properties of numbers as the sum of four squares. Unsince any square
integral or fractional.
fortunately
it
is
impossible to decide this question with any-
There are three problems [iv. 31, 32 and which it is required to divide a number into four squares, and from the absence of mention of any condition to which the number must conform, considering that in both cases where a number is to be divided into three or two Sipiares [v. 14
thing like certainty.
V. 17]
in
and 12] he does
state a condition,
we should probably be
right
in inferring that
Diophantos was aware, at
least empirically, if
not scientifically, that any number could be divided into four

squares.
it
would be rash
That he was able to prove the theorem scientifically But wc not impossible. to assert, though it
i.s
92
132
at least be certain that
it
may
Diophantos came as near to the

all
proof of
to 120
as did Bachet,
finds
who takes
that
all
the natural numbers up

actually be ex-
and
by
trial
of
them can
pressed as squares, or as the

in
whole numbers.
sum of two, three or four squares So much we may be sure that Diophantos
it is
could do, and hence he might have empirically satisfied himself

that in any case occurring in practice
possible to divide
any number into four squares, integral or fractional, even if he could not give a rigorous mathematical demonstration of the general theorem. Here again we must be content, at least in our present state of knowledge of Greek mathematics, to remain
in doubt.
CHAPTER
VII.

1.
ORIGINAL
none
is
Of the many vexed questions relating to Diophantos more difficult to pronounce upon than that which we
Here, as in so
propose to discuss in the present chapter.
many
ca.se.
other cases, diametrically opposite views have been taken by authorities equally capable of judging as to the merits of the
Diophantos "optimum praeclarissiniumque Logisticae parentem," though possibly he means no more by this
Thus Bachet
calls
he was the first algebraist of "T abate Andres" as the most thoroughgoing upholder of the originality of Diophantos. M. Tannery, however, whom we have before had occasion to men-
than what he afterwards
says, "that
whom we
know."
Cossali quotes
tion, takes
a completely opposite view, being entirely unwilling
to credit Diophantos with being anything
compiler.
more than a learned Views intermediate between these extremes are those of Nicholas Saunderson, Cossali, Colebrooke and Nesselmann; and we shall find that, so far as we are able to judge
us,
from the data before

good.
is
Saunderson's estimate
is
singularly
He
first
the
says in his Elements of Algebra (1740), "Diophantos writer on Algebra we meet with among the ancients
is
not that the invention of the art

to him, for he has
particularly to be ascribed
rules
nowhere taught the fundamental

it
and
principles of Algebra; he treats
everywhere as an art already
known, and seems to intend, not so much to teach, as to cultivate and improve it, by applying it to certain indeterminate problems concerning square and cube numbers, right-angled triangles, &c., which till that time seemed to have been either not at all considered, or at least not regularly treateil cf. These
134
jêt
problems are very curious and ratertaining; but

resolution
of
in the
them
there frequently occur difficulties, which
nothing
less
than the nicest and moc^ refined Algebra, applied

skill
with the utmost
most certain
it is
that, in this way,
and judgment, could ever surmount: and no man ever extended the
limits of analytic art further than Diophantos has done, or dis-
covered greater penetration and judgment; whether we consider

his wonderful sagacity
and peculiar
artifice
in
forming such
proper positions as the nature of the questions under consideraing upon them.
more than ordinary subtilty of his reasonEvery particular problem puts us upon a new way of thinking, and furnishes a fresh vein of analytical treasure,
tion required, or the
is
which, considering the vast variety there
of them, cannot but
be very instructive to the mind in conducting itself through almost all difficulties of this kind, wherever they occur."
2.
We
will
now, without anticipating our results further,
proceed to consider the arguments for and against Diophantos'

originality.
But
first
we may
dispose of the supposition that
Greek algebra may have been derived from Arabia. This is rendered inconceivable by what we know of the state of learning Algebra cannot have been in Ai'abia at different periods. developed in Arabia at the time when Diophantos wrote
the claim of
Mohammed
ibn
Musa
if
to
be considered the
first,
is
first
important Arabian algebraist,

parently not disputed.
that
not actually the
ap-
On
the other hand Rodet has shown

largely
M(jhammed ibn Musii was

is
;
indebted to Greece.
moreover great dissimilarity between Greek and Indian algebra this would seem to indicate that the two were evolved
There
independently.
We may We
also here dispose of Bombelli's strange
statement that he found
that Diophantos very often quoted
Indian authors \
therefore
do not find in Diophantos, as we have
him, a single reference to any Indian author whatever.

is
There
suppose
some
difficulty in
understanding Bombelli's positive
statement.
It is at first sight a
tempting hypothesis
to
that the "frequent quotations" occurred in parts of Diophantos'

^
"Ed
lu
in detta opera
abbiamo
ritrovato, ch' egli assai volte cita gli autori
indiani, col cho rui lia fatto conoscere, che questa disciplina
appo
gl'
indiani
prima
che
agli arabi."
HOW FAR WAS DIOPHANTOS ORIGINAL?

work contained only
in the MS.
135
know
which Bombclli used. But wo is mentioned in that MS. We can only explain the remark by supposing that Bombelli confused the text and the scholia of Maximus Planudes for in
that not a single Indian author
;
the latter mention

tion."
method of multiplicaSuch must be considered the meagre foundation for

is
is
made
of an " Indian
Bombelli's statement.
There
indebted,
3.
not, then, mucli
doubt
that, if
we
are to find any
writers on algebra earlier than Diophantos to
whom he was
present
we must seek for them among his own countrymen. Let us now consider the indications bearing upon the question which are to be found in Diophantos' own work.
two references
to Hypsikles
Distinct allusions to previous writers there are none with the

sole exception of the
which occur
in the
fragment on Polygonal Numbers.
These references, how-
ever, are of little or
Diophantos' originality;
no importance as affecting the question of for, so far as they show anything, they
far in
show that Diophantos was

of the progress which
advance of Hypsikles
in his
treatment of polygonal numbers.
And,
so far as
we can judge
of
had been made
in their theoretical treat-
ment by
writers anterior to Diophantos from
what we know
such arithmeticians as Nikomachos and Theon of Smyrna, we must conclude that (even if we assume that the missing part of
Diophantos' tract on this subject was insignificant as compared
with the portion which has survived) Diophantos made a great

step in advance of his predecessors.
with polygonal numbers
is
new
His method of dealing and we look in vain among
his precursors for equally general propositions with regard to
such numbers or for equally

perties.
scientific proofs of known proNot that previous arithmeticians were uuaccjuaiuted
with Diophantos' propositions as applied to particular jwlygonal numbers, and even as applicable generally but of their general application they convinced themselves only empirically, and by
;
the successive evolution of higher and higher orders of
sucli
numbers.
We may here remark, with respect to the term "arithmetic" which Diophantos applies to his whole work, that he is making According to the previously ucc.-jt.-<l a new use of the term.
136
and XoytariKT] the former
treats of the
distinction of apLdfiijriKi]
abstract properties of numbers,
considered apart from
their
mutual
relations, XoyiaTCKi] of
problems involving the relations
of concrete numbers.
XoyiartKi], then, includes algebra.
Acon
cording to the distinction previously in vogue the term dpidfiTjTiKi]
would properly apply only to Diophantos'

;
tract
Polygonal Numbers
but, as in the six books of Diophantos the
numbers are treated as abstract, he drops the distinction. Next to direct references to the names of predecessors, 4. we must look to the language of Diophantos, in order to see whether there is any implication that anything which he teaches And in this regard we might naturally expect that is new. the preface or dedication to Dionysios would be important. It Trjv evpeaiv rwv iv Toh dpi6p.ol<i irpo^X'qiicnoiv, is as follows
:
TifiicoTari fioL Aiovvcrte, jivooaKcov ere a7rovSai(o<; e')(0VTa ixadeiv,
opyavajcrat rrjv fieOoSov 7reipd6r)v, dp^(i/jipo<i d(f
wv
crvi'iaTrjKe
rd Trpdy/jiaTa
eVeiS?) iMrjTTW
Oefxekicov, v7roar7]aai Tt)v iv Tol<i

Laa)<i
dpi6fioL<;
<pvaiv
re Kol hvvafJiLV.
fiev
ovv hoKel to Trpdyfjba Sva-^^êpearepov,
yvwptyiov iari, hvaekinaTOL yap et? KaropOuxxLV

-vûpâi,
elaiv al
rwv
dp'^ôfjiiicov
o/iw?
8'
evKardXTjTrrov aoc jevt]-
aerat Btd
fydp
et9
rrjv arjv
irpodvp.Cav koI Tr)v e^rjv dirohet^Lv' raêta
fx,d6r](rLV
eTriOufiia
irpoaXaôvaa
ScSa^yjv.
it
The
first
expression which would seem to carry with
an indication of
is
the nature of the work as conceived by Diophantos himself

opyavwxrat
rrjv fiedoSov.
The word opyavwaat has
of itself
been
the Arithmetics were originaP.
some that the whole matter and method of Cossali and Colebrooke are of opinion that the language of the preface implies that some part But Montucla of what Diophantos is about to teach is new".
enough
to convince
1
Cf. the
view of " 1' abate Andres " as stated by Cossali: "Diofanto stesso
d' essere stata
parla in guisa, che sembra mostrare assai cLiaramente
sua iuven-
zione la dottrina da lui proposta, e spiegata nulla sua opera."

"
"A me
par troppo
il
il
dire,
che da quelle cspressioni non ne esca alcuu
lume; mi pare troppo
restingcre la novita, che annunziano, al metodo, che nell'

si
opera di Diofanto regnas
mira
ma
parmi anche troppo

of
il
dedurne essere state

is
Diofanto in assoluto sonso inventor
dell' analisi."
Cossali.
"He
Tffwj
certainly intimates that
some part
what he proposes to teach
new:
fxh oiV doKel rd irpayfia 5v<TXf p^<rTepoi'
iireiSri firiiru) yvdpi/xoi'
iari: while in
other places (Def. 10) he expects the student to be previously exercised in the
HOW FAR WAS DIOPHANTOS ORIGINAL

does not go too far us any chie.
" fabricari,"
137
when he
says that the preface does not give

is
The word
op-âvwaai
translated by Bachet as
It means " to set forth and such an expression may perfectly well apply if there were absolutely nothing new in the work, and Di(iphantos were merely writing a text-book simply giving in a compact and systematic form the sum and substance
right.
but this can hardly be
in order", to "systematise";
of previous labours.
The words
eVetS?}
/u,7;7r&)
^vwpiixov iariv
have also been made use of by advocates of Diophantos' claim to originality; but, looked at closely, they clearly imply no
more than that the methods were unknown to Dionysios. The is subjective, as is shown by the following words, SuaiXTTicTTOC yap eh Karopdcocriv eicriv al twv dp^^ôfievav ylrvâi. The language of the definitions also has been variously understood. "L' abate Andres" concluded from their very
phrase
presence
at
the beginning of the book
that
if
Diophantos
is
minutely explaining preliminary matter as

of a
he were speaking
new
science as yet
unknown
to others.
But the
;
fact
is
that he does not minutely explain preliminary matter
he gives
an extremely curt summary of the necessary preliminaries.
Moreover he makes no stipulations as to what he

call
will choose to
8vvafii<i
is
?*.
by a certain name.
Thus a square KaXelrai

called
dpidfio'i,
the
unknown quantity
Xeiyfri^
is
and
its
sign
Again, he says
virapîv,
iirt
Xel^jrtv
hij
TroXXaTrXaaiaadelcra
(jives j)lus^.
Troiei
Minus multiplied
minus
In the 10th
tlic
algorithm of Algebra.
The seeming
contradiction
is
reconciled by conceiving
known, but the application of thorn to a certain class of problems concerning numbers to have been new." Ci'lebrooke. I adhere to this translation of the Greek because, tiiough not quite literal, It is it serves to convey the meaning intended better than any other version.
principles to have been
not easy to translate

p. 108), says that
it
it literally.
Mr James Gow
(History of Creek Mnthemntict,
a difference makes an addition."
"A difference multiplied by This translation seems unfortunate, because Xc^jj and (1) it is difficult, if not impossible, to attach any meaning to it, (2) If vvapîs are correlatives, whereas "difference" and "addition" are not. either of these words are used at all, we shoidd surely say either "A dillerenco by multiplietl a multiplied by a diffirence makes a sum", or "A subtraction
should properly be translated
subtraction
makes an addition."
The
true
meaning
of Xerîi
must be
" a falling-
short" or
If,
"a wanting", and
that of i-Vapfis
"a presence"
or
therefore, a literal translation is desired, I
would suggest
"a forthcoming". " A wanting multi-
138
how important it is that the beginner should be familiar with the operations of Addition, Subtraction, &c.; and in the 11th Definition the rules for reducing a quadratic to
Definition he says
its
simplest form are given in a dogmatic authoritative manner which would only be appropriate if the operation were generally
:
known
in fine, the definitions, in so far as they
have any bear-
ing on the present question, seem to show that Diophantos does not wish
it
to
be understood that they contain anything new.
He
gives
ciples,
them as a short but necessary resume of known prinmore for the puriDose of a reminder than as laying any
that Diophantos invented algebra
is,
new foundation. To assert, then,

the
least,
to say
an exaggeration, as we can even now see from the

it is
indications above mentioned. His notation, so far as

tion, is
a nota-
apparently
new
but, as
it
it
is
merely in the nature of
abbreviations for complete words,
cannot be said to constitute
any great advance in algebra. I may here mention a curious theory propounded by 5. Wallis, that algebra was not a late invention at all, but that it
was
in
common
use by the Greeks from the time of their earliest
discoveries in the field of geometry, that in fact they disco-
vered their geometrical theorems by algebra, but were extremely

careful to conceal the fact.
But
to believe that the gi'eat

is
Greek
geometers were capable of this sj^stematic imposition

possible\
scarcely
makes a forthcoming". But, thongb this would be correct, by obscurity more than it gains by accuracy. 1 "De Algebra, prout apud Euclideu Pappum Diophantum et scriptores habetur. Mihi quidem extra omne dubium est, veteribus cognitam fuisse et usu comprobatam istiusmodi artcm aliquam Investigaudi, qualis est ea quam nos Algebram dicinius Indequc derivatas esse quae apud cos conspiciuntur
plied by a wanting
it
loses
prolixiores et intricatae
Demonstrationcs.
Aliosque ex recentioribus
mecum
bae
in
re
sen tire comperio. ...Hanc autem artem Investigaudi Veteres occu-
luerunt sedulo: contenti, per demonstrationes Ajjagogicas (ad absurdum seu

impossibile ducentcs
si
quod assorunt negetur) asscnsum cogere; potins quam

illae
directum methodum indicare, qua fuerint inventae propositiones

aliter et
quas
ipsi
per ambages demonstrant."

is
(Wallis, Opera, Vol.
ii.)
Bossut
certainly right in bis criticism of this theory.
"Si
cette opinion
6tait vraic, elle inculperait cch
grands
hommes
Or,
d'unc charlatancrie systc^matique
et traditionolle, ce qui est invraiscmblable en soi-nieme et
ne pourrait Stre admis

telle
sans les preuves
les
plus rvidentes.
sur quoi
une
opinion cst-elle
HOW FAR WAS DIOPHANTOS ORIGINAL?

6.
139
be said may, perhaps, be best arranged under the principal of Diophantos' methods as headings and it
to
;
What remains
be advisable to take them in order, and consider in each case whether anything is anticipated by Greek authors whose works we know. For it would seem useless to speculate on
will
If we once leave the safe what they might have written. ground of positive proveable fact, such an investigation as the It is this fact which present could lead to no useful result.
makes so much of what M. Tannery has written on this stibject seem unsatisfactory. He states that Diophantos was no more
than a learned compiler, like Pappos though it may be observed that this is a comparison by no means discreditable to
:
the former
plete
he does not think it necessary to explain the comwant of any other works on the same subject previous to
;
Diophantos.
The
scarcity of information
is
respecting similar
previous labours, says M. Tannery,
easily explicable on other
grounds which do not concern us here\ The nature of the work joined to what we know of Diophantos would seem to
prove his statement, thinks M. Tannery
;
thus the work
is
very
unequal, some operations being even clumsy*.

likely to
But we
are not
is any evidence against what great genius always equalled himself? Certainly, if we cannot find any certain traces of anticipation of Diuphantos by his predecessors, he is entitled to the benefit of any doubt. Besides, given that Diophantos was not the in-
admit that inequality in a work

;
originality
for
ventor of any considerable portion of his science, the merit of

it known and arranged it scientifically is little less than that of the discoverer of the whole, and very much greater
having made
than that of the discoverer of a small fraction of

First with regard to the use of the
fondce?
it.
unknown quantity by
Sur quelques anciennes propositions, tircês principaleraent du treioti Ton a cru reconnaitre I'alK^bre, mais qui ne siipposont rêllement que I'analyse gtom^trique, dans laquelle les anciens C-taient fort exerII parait certain que Ics (Jroca n'ont commcuc<5 ccs, commc je I'ai d6ja marqu6. a connaitre I'altûbre qu'au temps de Diophante." (Ilistoire Gin(rale tUn Math/ziiSme livre d'Euclide, viatiques par Charles Bossut, Paris, 1810.)
The
truth of the last sentence
is
not
so clear.
'
lluUrtin
Ibid.
(ipx
Srifiirfx miithi'mnl'ujnex ct dgtronomiqnt's, 1870, p. 261.
140
Diophaiitos.
There
is
apparently no indication that

it
dpidfi6<i, in
by Diophantos, was employed by any other extant writer without an epithet to mark the use, and certainly Bvvafii<; as restricted to the square of the
the restricted sense appropriated to
unknown
is
Diophautine.
But the employment

it
of an
unknown
is,
quantity and calculations in terms of

phantos' time.
are found before Dio-
To
find a thing in general expressions

it
with
Diophantos, to find
iv dopiaro).
Cf.
the problem IV. 20.
But the same word

his
is
used in the same sense by Thymaridas in
Epanthema. We know of him only through lamblichos, but he probably belongs to the same period as Theon of Smyrna. Not only does Thymaridas distinguish between numbers which are wpiafMevoL (known) and doptaroc (unknown), but the Epanthema gives a rule
equations of the
for solving
first
a particular set of simultaneous
degree with any number of variables.

is
The
artifice
employed
the same as in
i.
16, 17, of Diophantos.
This account which lamblichos gives of the Epanthema of Thy-
maridas
is
important
is
for the history of algebra.
For the essence
of algebra
present here as
much
as in Diophantos, the " nota-
him showing only a very slight advance. Thus we have here another proof, if one were needed, that
tion" employed by
Diophantos did not invent algebra. Diophantos was acquainted with the solution of a mixed or
complete quadratic.
This solution he promises in the 11th
But, as
Definition to explain later on.
we have
before remarked,
the promised exposition never comes, at least in the part of his
work which we
in a
pos.se.ss.
He
shows, however, sufficiently plainly
number
of problems the exact rule which he followed in
the solution of such equations.
The
question therefore arises

his
Did Diophantos himself discover and formulate

or
purely
arithmetical rule for solving complete determinate quadratics,
was the method
in use before his
time
Cossali points out
that the propositions 58, 59, 84 and 85 of Euclid's BeSofieva

give in a geometrical form the solution of the equations
ax x^=
It
b,
ax
to
-i
x'
= b, and
of
" xy
A
b)
was only necessary
transform the geometry into algebra, in

order to obtain Diophantos' rule
;
ORIGINAL?
141
and this might have been done by some mathematician intermediate between Euclid and Diophantos, or by Diophantos himself. It is quite possible that
it
may have been

is
in this
is
manner that the
rule arose; and, if
that
to
the case,
it
probable that the transformatii^n referred

later
was accomplished by some matliematician not much
than
Euclid himself; for Heron of Alexandria {circa 100
R.C.)
already
used a similar rule\
We
hear moreover of a work on quadratic
equations by Hipparchos (probably ciixa IGl
126
B.C.)*.
Thus
we may conclude
7.
that Diophantos' rule for solving complete
quadratics was not his discovery.
But
it is
not upon Diophantos' solution of determinate

;
equations that the supporters of his claim to originality rely

it is
rather that part of his work which forms
its
main
subject,
namely, Indeterminate or Semi-determinate Analysis.

ingly
it is
Accord-
term Diophantine analysis is applied. We should therefore look more especially for anticipations of Diophantine analysis, if we would be in a position to judge as to
to that that the
Diophantos' originality.
Pythagoras.
The foundation of semi-determinate analysis was laid by Not only did he propound the geometrical theorem
is
that in a right-angled triangle the square on the hypotenuse
equal to the
applied
it
sum
of the squares on the other two sides, but he

rule
to
numbers and gave a

true
application,
it is
of somewhat
number
if
narrow
His
for finding
an
infinite
of right-
angled triangles
rule,
whose
sides are all
rational
numbers.
expressed
in algebraical
form, asserts that
there are
three
numbers
of the form 2m'^
- 2wi
-t-
1,
2m^
2/n,
and
1m
1,
they form a right-angled triangle.

unity,
This rule applies clearly to
that particular case only in which two of the numbers differ by

i.e.
that particular case of Diophantos' general form for
a right-angled triangle (m* -^-n^ w'
n"",
2mn)
in
which in-ii = l.
a
But Pythagoras'
rule
is
an attempt
II.
to deal
with the general

f.ir
problem of Diophantos,
8, 9.
Plato gives another form

\va.><
The Cf. Cantor, pp. 341, 342. more than a matter of arithmetical making both sides complete squares.
2
solution of a quailratio
calcnlation.
Heron no He solved such e<iuationH by

for
Cf.
Cantor, p. 313.
142
namely (w^ + 1, m^l,
29
is
2;/i),
rational right-angled triangle,

is
which
that particular case of the form used by Diophantos in which

Euclid,
9,
71=1.
II. 8,
Book
x. prop.
the same problem as Dioph.
Diophantos improving upon Euclid's solution. In compargeometry:
ing,
however, Euclid's arithmetic with that of Diophantos we

is still
should remember that with Euclid arithmetic
a fact which accounts for his marvellously-developed doctrine of

irrational
and incommensurable numbers.

is
In Diophantos the
severed, and irrational
his work.
connection with arithmetic and geometry
numbers are studiously avoided throughout

There
is
another certain case of the solution of an indeter-
minate equation of the second degree in rational numbers before Diophantos. Theon of Smyrna, in his work Twv Kara fiaOrjfiaTLKTjv
'^(^p'rjcrl/xcov
et9 r})v
rov TI\dTcovo<i dvayvcoaLv
[sc.
expositio,
say the editors], gives a theorem Trepl irXsvpiKoov Kal Sia/xerpiKcov

dpLd/xoov.
From
this
theorem we derive immediately any number
of solutions of the equations
provided that
either.
we can find, by trial or otherwise, one solution of Theon does not make this application of his theorem he solved a somewhat important problem of the second degree There is an in indeterminate analysis without knowing it.
:
Proclus,
to the doctrine of Side- and Diagonal-numbers in Comment, on Euclid iv. p. 111. Such are the data upon which Nesselmann founded his 8. view as to the originality of our author. But M. Tannery has tried to show, by reference to a famous problem, that still more difficult questions in indeterminate analysis had been propounded
allusion
name
before the time of Diophantos. of the " Cattle-problem "
This problem
;
is
known by
is
the
it is
an epigram, and
com-
monly attributed to Archimedes. It was discovered by Lessing, and his discussion of it may be found in Zur Geschichte und
Litteratur (Braunschweig, 1773),
p.
421 seqq.
have quoted
it
below according to the text given by Lessing'.

1
The
title
does
this
have unfortunately not been able to consult

J.
llic critical
Wdik on
epigram by Dr
Struvc anil Dr K. L. Stiuvc, father and son (Altona, 1H21).

two divisions into which
ORIGINAL?
143
not actually imply that Archimetles was the author.

it falls
Of the
the second leads to an induterLessinR's
My
information about
it is
derived at second-hand from Nesselmann.

it
text can hardly be perfect, but
seems better to give
it
as
it is
without emen-
dation.
nPOBAHMA
oirep
'APXIMHAH2
iv ^Trtypd/jL/j.affiv
fvpwv
t'tfTeiv
TOiS iv 'AXeâvdpeigi wepl
ravra Trpayp-aTov/idfoi^
aTricTciXtv
if TTJ TTpbs "RpaToaOivrjv rhv Kvprivaiov

eTn(7To\fj.
nXijdiii' ijeXloio (SoCoi>,
<f>povTlb' eiricrTrjcras,
iroffffij
êive,
pArp-qffov,
ffO(pir]s,
el
/xer^x^'J
dp' iv ireStois HiKeXrjs ttot' (^6ffKeTo vrjffov
Qpivad-qs, rerpaxv (rriêa Saffffafi^v-q
Xpo^V" oXXaaaovra'
t6 iih XevKoio yaXaKTos,
Kvav4(i> 8' irepov xpw/toTt Xa/iirdfievov,
dXXoye
/xiv
âvObf, t6 di iroiKlXoy.
'Ev 5e eKaartf)
aricpet i<rav ravpoi Tr\i}de<yL ^pidbiievoL,

av/x/jLeTpi-qs TOLTJade
TerenxoTer dpydrpixas
rjdi
rplrif),
fxiv
Kvaviuv Taupojv
Kal âvôts
r]/j.icrL
(T6/jLTra(Tiv
taovs,
êive,
vb-qaov.
Avrdp Kvaviovs t^ rerpdrip

/MiKTOXpbuv Kal
ir^/XTTTif),
fiipei
?Tt âvdo'ial re iraji.
Toys
5'
viroXeiiro/xifOis iroiKiXbxjxô.^ adpei

p-epei,
dpyfvvCiv ravpwv ^KTip
f^So/udrtf. re
Kal âvOoh avrous irdcriv laaôp.ivovs. OrfXeiaiai Si

r)(Tav
rtfi
j3ov<Ti
rdo' ^TrXero"
XevKorpixfS
p-fv
ffvpLirdffrjs
Kvavirfs dyeXtjs
Iffat.
TpiTdT(f re fiipei Kal TTpdT(f} drptKis

t<J)
A&rip Kvdveai
/UKTOXpowu Kal
<Ti>v
Tirpdri^j re
6/j.ov
waXiv
pJpei Iffdôvro
irifiirrifi
TaipoLS
irda'r)%
eh
vofiov ipxop^vris.
fi^pei
rjoi
Savdorpix^^y dyeXijs W/urrT(f>
Kai
<\T<f)
iroiKiXai ia-dpiOp-of ttXtjOos Ix^"-
'^^'''P^-XTI
âvdal
o'
7]pid/xiOvTo p-ipovi rpiTov rjpxaei. laon
dpyevprjs dyiXrjs eôonaTi^ re fxipei.
SeTve,
X^^pls
tri)
5'
ijeXioio /So'ej iroaai
drpeKh elirwv
M^f raijpuv âTpe(piui> dpiOp-bv, Xwpis 5' oB drjXeiai Saai Kari xpoidv iKacTai,
oiiK
d'idpb Ke Xiyoi,
pirjv
oi)5'
dpi0p.Qv dSaî,
oil
iribye <TO<po7s iv dpiOfioiV
ctW
tdi (ppdêv
Kal TaSe irdvra
^bwv
ijeXloio iradij,
'Apyorpixes ravpoi
Kvavôis taravT
fiiv iirel
mâlaro
av
wXijOC'v
ffiireSov laofxerpoi
eh ^dOoi eh evpo^
âfdoi
av
re'
rd
5'
irepifxriKea
xdyryj
wl/jLirXavTO tXivOov QpivaKt-qt TreSi'o.

o' r'
eh
ff Kai Troi/nXoi
dOpoiaOimtf
144
minate equation of the second degree. In view of this fact it is important for us to discuss briefly the matter and probable date Struve does not admit that it can pretend to of this epigram.
that antiquity which
is
claimed for
it
in the title.
This
it
we
may
allow without going so far as Kliigel,
who makes
as late
as the introduction of the present decimal system of numeration.
Nesselmann's view
the author
(if
is
that the heterogeneous conditions, which
show that due to one author) could have had no idea how to solve it. Nesselmann is of opinion that the editors of the anthology were justified in refusing a place to this epigram, that the most one could do would be to admit the first part and condemn the latter part as corrupt, and that we might fairly regard the whole as unauthentic because even the The first first part could not belong to the age of Archimedes. part, which falls into two divisions, gives seven equations of the first degree for determining eight unknown quantities, namely the number of bulls and cows of each of four colours. The solution of the first part gives, if {X YZW) are the numbers of the
are thrown together to render the problem difficult,
the whole
is
bulls, {xyziu)
the corresponding numbers of cows,
X = 10366482 n,
Y=
Z=
x
2/
W=
where n
the
is
7460514 w, 7358060 w, 4149387 w,

If
= 7206360 n, = 4893246
?i,
2=3515820??,
<;
= 54.39213 w,
the smallest possible value
an
integer.
is
we take
number
of cattle
sufficiently
enormous.
The
Scholiast's
solution corresponds to the value 80 of n, the

" truly," as
result being
Sicily."
Lessing observes,
"
a tolerably large herd for
The same might be This w = 1 above.
said of the solution arising from putting

is
surely
a curious commentary on
M.
Tannery's theory above alluded to (pp. 6, 7), that the price of the wine in vi. 33 of Diophantos is a sufficient evidence of the
i(xravT' afxô\aZr)v i^ ivbi apxa/J-efOi
ffxvM-o-
reXtiovvTes t6 rpiKpacnredov oUre irpoaovruu

oUt^ iTriXenro/JL^vuv.
TrpairiSfcrcriv
^î>(,
aSXoxpouv ravpwv,
TaOra
Kal
cvvf^fvpilji' Kal ivi
ddpolaas
ir\t)Oi.o}v
diro5ous,
u)
iravra fiirpa.
^PXô Kv5i6o}v
inKri(p6po%'
taOi Tf iravTUii
KCKpifi^fot rairrxi uinrvLO% cp ffocply.
now FAR WAS

date of the epigram.
DIOl'HANTOS OHKMNAL?
U.',
If the " Cattle-problem " of
which we arc
now speaking were really due to Archimedes, we should, supposing M. 'i'aunery's theory to hold good, scarcely have found the result in such glaring contradiction to what cannot but
have been the
ftivour of his
facts of the case,
Nesselmann further argues

(1)
in
is
view by pointing out

it is
that the problem
clearly at
an end, when
said
that
he
who
solves
the
problem must be not unskilled in numbers, i.e. where I have shown the division and the addition of two new conditions
;
with the preface

in
"And
yet he could not pretend to proficiency

could solve the
it,
wise calculations" unless he
rest,
shows
the marks of the interpolator on the face of

of a
and, moreover,
clumsy interpolator who could neither solve the complete itself, nor even conceal his patchwork. (2) The language and versification are against the authenticity. (3) The
problem
Scholiast's solution does not, as it claims, satisfy the whole
problem, but only the

solution with the
first
part.
(4)
The
impossibility of
Greek numeral notation and the absurdly large numbers show that the author, or authors, could not have seen what the effect of the many heterogeneous conditions would be. Nesselmann draws the conclusion above stated and we may safely assume, as he says, that this ej)igram is from the historical point of view worthless, and could not, even if it
;
were shown to be earlier than the date of Diophantos, be held

to prove
anything against his
originality.
M. Tannery takes the opposite view and uses the epigram

for the
express purpose of proving his assumption that Dio-
phantos was not an original writer.

attributed to
M. Tannery takes a passage

is
Geminos
in which he
describing the distinction

XoyiariKi] according to
between XoytariKi] and
apLOfirjTiKt'j.
Geminos dewpet to
l3Xi]/j.a,
/zef
KXijOki'
toOto' he
p-ifKiraî fcuL
\\pxiMôv<i ôIkov trpuUl the two (jjiaXLTuî ctpiO/xovs'vtt
do not read rovs as M. Tannery does.

is
He
alters tovto, the original
reading, into rods, simply remarking that tovto is
TovTo Si
an "inadmissible reading." certainly a reading which needs no defence, being exactly what we
should expect to have.
The passage appears

(ioeiuoi'
to be taken
from the Scholia to

Otupti
Plato's Cluinnideii, where, however, Stallbaum
and Heiberg read

touto
bi
o^
10
roOro
Hkv rb K\r}6iv
i'lr"
'A/ixtM')'Joi'S
wij6ft\)ina,
li'iMrai o 0ioXirat
H. D.
146
kinds of problems which are here distinguished as falling within the province of Xoyca-TiK/j M. Tannery understands
the
vir
to be indeterminate problems, the type taken {kXvO^v 'Apxi-Môvi ô'Ckou Trpo^Xiifia) being nothing more or less He states than the very problem we have been speaking of. that Nesselmanu has not appreciated the problem properly,
first
finally that we have here an indubitable reference to an indeterminate problem of the second degree (viz. the equation
and
8Ax^ + l=if, where
yl is
a very large number) more difficult
than those of Diophantos. simply to beg the question.

refers to the
But
this statement
For, if the expression of

of,
problem which we are speaking
would seem Geminos it may even
then only refer to the first part, that is, an indeterminate problem of the first degree M. Tannery has still to show that the whole problem is one, and a genuine product of antiquity.
:
to answer Nesselmann's
have not found that M. Tannery makes any attempt arguments and, unless they are answered, the conclusion which the latter draws from them cannot
But
be said to be invalidated.
But Nesselmann's view

stiones
is
also
I
opposed by Heiberg {Quae-
Archimedeae, 1879).
do not think, however, that his

;
arguments in favour of the authenticity are conclusive and, though answering some, he does not answer all of Nesselmann's With regard to the language Heiberg observes that objections.
the dialect need not surprise us, for the use by Archimedes of
the Ionic instead of the Doric dialect for this epigram would
easily be explained
by the common use of the Ionic
dialect for
if
epic
and
elegiac poetry \
And
he further suggests that, even
dpidfiovs,
which Beems better than the reading quoted by M. Tanuery from Hultsch, Ileronis Reliquiae, and given above. ^ Heiberg admits that the language of the title is not satisfactory. He
points out that tV
iiriypd/xfxaaii'
shoukl go, not with eipuv, but with
airiffreiXe,
is
though so
far separated
from
it,
and that the use
of the plm-al
ttXtjOos
i -my pd/ifiaaLv
'''^''^po-XV
(1-
unsatisfactory.
Upon
the reading noiKlXai iaapUlixov

z
^x""
21)
he observes that by symmetry

but to
(j
should not be equal to four times

if
+ i) (W+ic)
itself,
and, even
that were the case,
(l + l){1V+w), we should require

?xo*'<^'
TerpdKis.
Hence he suggests
for this lino iroiKlXai ladpiOfiov
nXÔoi
^<pdvrj.
(Apparently, to judge from his punctuation, Lessing understood Terpaxij in the sense of "fourthly.") Heiberg explains irXivOov (1. 36) as " quadraugulum
sohdum," by which
is
mtaut dimply
" a square," as is clearly indicated
by
1.
34.
now FAR WAS

the difficulties as to the
DlOrilANTdS OUICINAL
147
hmguagc
itself
it
arc considered too great,

to
we
may suppose
if
the problem
have been the work of

But,
Archimedes, the language of
that of some later author.
go so far as to admit that the language may be the work of a later author than Archimedes, it would be no more unnatural to suppose that the matter itself of the latter
will
Heiberg
part of the problem was also of later date.
The suggestion that
Archimedes could not have solved the whole problem (as completed by the two last conditions) Heiberg meets with arguments which appear to be extremely unsafe. He says that
Archimedes' approximations to the value of J^, although we cannot see by what process he arrived at them, show plainly
that his arithmetic was
little
behind our modern arithmetic,

little
and
that, e.g.,
he possessed means of approximation
in-
modern method by continued fractions. Heiberg further observes that Archimedes possessed machinery for dealing with very large numbers. But we are not justified in
ferior to the
assuming on these two grounds that Archimedes could solve the indeterminate equation 8Ax^+l=y^, where (Nesselmann, p. 488) A = 51285802909803, for the solution of which we
should use continued fractions.
I
do not think, therefore, that
Heiberg has made out his
case.
Hence
I should hesitate
to
assume that the problem before us is an indubitable case, }n-evious to Diophantos, of an indeterminate equation of the second degree more difficult than those treated by him.
The discussion of the " Cattle-problem " as possibly throwing some light on the present question would seem to have adiled nothing to the arguments previously stated and the (juestiou
;
of Diophantos' originality
may be
considered to be uuaftectod by
anything that has been said about the epigram. We may therefore adopt, with little or no variation, Ncsselmann's final result, that he is far from believing that Diophantos
merely worked up the materials of others.

is
On
the contrary he
convinced that the greater part of his propositions and his ingenious methods are his own. There is moreover an " ludivi-
duum" running through

this conclusion.
the whole work which strongly confirms
lU-2
CHAPTER
VIII.
DIOPHANTOS AND THE EARLY ARABIAN ALGEBRAISTS.

I
1.
propose in this chapter to examine briefly the indicaor points of contact with, Diophantos.
tions which are to be found in certain Arabian algebraists of in-
debtedness
to,
And
in
doing so I shall leave out of consideration the Arabic translations
These are, so far as and such notices ot them as we have I have given in Chapter ill. of this Essay (pp. 39 42). Our historical knowledge of the time and manner in which Diophantos became known to the Arabs is so very scanty as to amount
of his work or commentaries tiiereupou.
we know,
all lost,
almost to nothing: hence the importance of careful comparison

of the matter, methods,
and mode of expression of Diophantos

first
with those of the important representatives of early Arabian

algebra.
tion of
Now
it
has been argued that, since the
transla-
Diophantos into Arabic that we know of was made by Abu'i-Wafa, who lived A.D. 940 998, while Mohammed ibn
Musa's algebraical work belongs to the beginning of the 9th

century,
Arabian
algebra
must have been developed indeIt does not follow
pendently of that of the Greeks. not warranted by this evidence.
This conclusion, however, is from the
want
of historical
proof of
connection between
Greek and
it is
Arabian algebra that there was no such connection; and

internal evidence that
to
we must look
for the correction
of this
misconception.
shall
accordingly enumerate a
number
of
points of similarity between the Arabian algebraists and Dio-
phantos which would seem to indicate that the Arabs were

ac(|uainted with Diophantos and
of
Greek algebra before the time
Mohammed
ibn Musu, and that in Arabian algebra generally,
DIOPHANTOS AND THE EARLY AllAHIAN AMJKHUAISTS.

at least iu its beginnings, the
14;)
Greek element greatly

liere is
j.rr.lomi-
nated, though other elements were not wanting. 2.
The
first
Arabian who concerns us
Mohammed
Al-Kharizmi. He wrote a work which he callfd Aljahr wahnukUhala, and which is, so far as we know, not only the first book which bore such a title, but (if we can trust Arabian notices) was the first book which dealt with the subject indiibn
cated thereby.
Musa
Mohammed
ibn
Musa
uses the words aljahr ami
almukiihala without explanation, and, curiously enough, there is no application of the processes indicated by the words in the
must be held to show that these processes were known, to some extent at least, even before his time, and were known by those names. A mere translation of the two terras jabr and mukdbala does not of itself give us any light as to their significance. Jabr has been translated in Latin by the words restauratio and restitutio, and in German by "Wiederherstellung"; mukabala by oppusitio, or "comparison," and in German by "Gegeniiberstellung." Fortunately, however, we have explanations of the two terms given by later Arabians, who all agree as to the meaning conveyed by them\ When we have an algebraical equation in which terms
affected with a negative sign occur on either side or on both
sides, the process
theoretical part of the treatise: facts which
by which we make
all
the terms positive,
i.e.
adding to both sides of the equation such positive terms as
will
make up
the deficiencies, or absorb the negative ones,
is
jabr or
restauratio.
When,
again,
we have by jabr transformed our

all
equation into one in which

process by which
sides,
the
terms are positive, the

only one term con-
we
strike out such terms as occur on both

is,
with the result that there

gives,
finally,
The Algebra of Mohammed ben Miua, a from various authors explaining aljabr and almukabala. Itosen says " In the Kholaset iil Hisub, a I shall give only one, as an examijle. compendium of arithmetic and geometry by Baha-Eddiu Mohammed ben Al
1
Rosen
in his edition of
number
of passages
Hosain, who died A.n. 1031,
i.e.
1575
a.i>.,
the Arabic text of which, together
with a Persian commentary by Roshan Ali, was printed at Calcutta (IHTi, Svo), The side (of the e<iuation) on which bouicthe following explanation is given thing is to be subtracted, is made complete, and as much is to be added to the
:
'
other side; this
is
jebr; again those cognate (luautitiea which are equal on both
sides are removed,
and
this is
iW)kdbalah\"
150
tlie
taining each power of

equals,
is
unknown,
i.e.
subtracting equals from
mukdhala, oppositio or "comparison."

of the terms ja6?*
title of
meaning
due
Such was the and mukdhala) and the use of these
words together as the
Mohammed
ibn Musa's treatise
is
to the continual occurrence in the science there
expounded
of the processes so named.
It is tiTie that in the theoretical
part of
it
he assumes that the operations have been already
completed, and accordingly divides quadratic equations at once

into six classes, viz.
aa?
x^
= hx,
x^
ax^
= c,
hx
+ hx = c,
+c=
hx, x^
= c, = bx-{-c,
but the operations are nevertheless an essential preliminary.
Now what
does Diophantos say of the necessary preliminaries
in dealing with
an equation?
"If the same powers of the un-
known with positive but different coefficients occur on both sides, we must take like from like until we have one single expression equal to another.
If there are on both sides, or on either side, negative terms, the defects
sides, until

from like as before.
the different powers occur on both sides with posi-
tive coefficients,
when we must take

if
like
We
must contrive always,
possible, to reduce our equations so
that they
may
contain one single term equated to one other.

will explain to
But afterwards we
left
you how, when two terms are

is
equal to a third, such an equation
solved."
(Def. 11.)
Here we have an exact

said, these operations
description of the operations called by
the Arabian algebraists aljahr and almukahala.
And, as we
must have been
familiar in Arabia before
the date of Mohammed ibn Musa's treatise. This comparison would, therefore, seem to suggest that Diophantos was well
known
in Arabia at an early date. Next, with regard to the names used by Mohammed ibn Musa for the unknown quantity and its powers, we observe that
the
known quantity
is
called the
"Number"; hence
it
is
no
matter
for this
for surprise that
he has not used the word corresponding

quantity.
to npi6fx6<i for his
unknown
He
uses shai ("thing")
purpose or jidr ("root"). translation of the Indian mfda, or
This
it
last
word may be a
may
be a recollection of the
DIOPIIANTOS
pl^t]
AND THE EARLY ARAIUAN ALGEBRAISTS.

But
avg
151
of
Nikomachos.
uses
can say nothing with certainty
as to the connection of the three words.
unknown he
" Besitz,"
For the square of the by Cantor as "Vcrmogen," equivalent to "power"), which may very well be a
mal
(translated
translation of the Svvafii'i of Diophantos.
M. Bodet comments
in his article
Ualgehre (VAl-Khh'izmi
(Journal Asiatique, 1878) upon the expression used by
Mohamit is
med
ibn
Musa
for
minus, with the view of proving that
as
be a reminiscence of Diophantos as a term derived from India \

likely to
The most important

is
point, however, for us to
examine here
the solution of the complete (juadratic equation as given by
Diophantos and as given by

according to his distinction
Mohammed
ibn Miisa,
The
latter
gives rules for the solution of each of the forms of the quadratic
;
and each of these forms we
find in
Diophantos.
quadratic
After the rules for the three forms of the complete

ibn Miisa gives geometrical proofs of
it
Mohammed
in
them.
Now
Greece
was the practice

dont
il
to
work out theorems
He
says (pp. 31, 32)

'
:
"Le mot
se sert
pour dtisigner lestermcs d'une
equation affectes du signe -est naqis, qui

de, prive de
c'est
signifie,
comme on
le sait,
'
manquant
un ampute, par exemple,
est iwqis de son bras
ou de sa jambc
^wur done tres-improprement qu'Al-Kharizmi cmploie la partie eulevec'...Aussi le mot en question n'a-t-il plus c'te cmployo par ses successeurs, et Behri ed-Din qui, au moment d'cxposer la regie dcs siijncs s'il y a soustraction, on appcllo dans la multiplication algebriquc, avait dit CO dont on soustrait zaid (additif), et ce que Ton soustrait naqis (manquant les s^par^s, mis H de), ne nomme plus dans la suite les termes n^gatifs que
cette expression
designer
'
'
'
part, retranches.'
D'oti vient ce pr6fixe vi- au
mot 7iaqis? II repond, si Ton vcut, au Sanscrit moyen desquels on iudique la soustraction njekas ou
:
ii;i<M
oa au
ckoiias veut
'
dire 'dont
on a retranchc,'
'
niais I'adjectif viias se rapportc ici

et
au
ce dont on
a retranche
de
Beba ed-Din,
AXi7rr)s,
non a
la
quautito rctrancbil-e.
Or, lo groc
possede et emploie en
logue,
c'est
I'adjectif
langage algebriquc une expression tout A fait anadont Diopbant se sert, par excmplo, pour
:
definir le signe de la soustraction
tWtirî Kdru vtvoy, ' un \f/ iiicomplct xj/ 71 L'arabe, j'en prcnds a temoin tous les arabisauts, traDans I'indication dcs operations algubriquca duirait iWinrji par en-m'iqis.
incline
vers
le
bas.'
iv6i,
de son signe -71, if \d^pu fjiowdSft /3 if \d4û dpiOfxou "2 unites manquant d'une inconune,' pour cxprinier 2-x. Done, s'il est possible qu'Al-Kbarizmi ait emprunt6, sauf I'emploi qu'il en fait, son HtJ<//.s- au sauscrit uiias, il pourrait tout aussi bicu so fairo iju'il
Diopbant
lit,
li
la place
:
dit-il;
mot-amot
I'eAt pris
au grec
iv Xtiêt."
152
concerned
witli
numbers by the
the
aid of geometry; even in Dio-
phantos we find
treatise
geometrical
method employed
for
the
on Polygonal Numbers and a trace of it even in the Arithmetics, although the separation between geometry and algebra On the other hand, the Indian method was is there complete.
to
employ algebra
for
working out geometrical propositions, and

it
is
algebra reached a far higher degree of development in India
than in Greece, though debted to Greece

for
probable that even India was inprinciples.
the
first
Hence we should
is
naturally consider the geometrical basis of early Arabian algebra

as a sign of obligation to Greece.
This supposition
supported
by a very remarkable piece of evidence adduced by Cantor. It is based on the letters used by Mohammed ibn Miisa to mark
the points in the geometrical figures used to prove his rules.
The very use

Indian
;
of letters in a geometrical figure

letters
is
Greek, not
which are used are chosen in what appears to be, at first sight, a strange manner. The Arabic letters here used do not follow the order of the later Arabian
and the
alphabet, an order depending on the form of the letters and the

is their order quite explained by the arrangement of the Arabian alphabet which corresponds If however we to the order in the other Semitic languages. take the Arabic letters used in the figures and change them
mode
of writing them, nor
original
respectively into those
Greek
it
letters
which have the same nu5"
merical value, the series follows the Greek order exactly, and
not only
so,
but agrees with
in excluding
and
t.
But what
None,
for
reason could an Arab have had for refusing to use the particular
letters
which denoted 6 and 10
for geometrical figures?
so far as
we can
see.
The Greek, however, had a reason

5"
omitting the two letters
and
i,
the former because
it
really no longer regarded as a letter, the latter because
it
was was a
which might have led to confusion. We can hardly refuse to admit Cantor's conclusion from this evidence that Mohammed ibn Musa's geometrical proofs of his rules for solving the different forms of the complete quadratic are Greek. And it is, moreover, a reasonable iufereuce that the Greeks
mere
stroke,
I,
themselves discovered the rules for the solution of a complete We thus have a confirmation quadratic by means of geometry.
DIOPIIANTOS
AND THE EARLY ARABIAN
ALfJEBRAlSTS.
l.'>3
of the supposition as to the origin of the rules used by Diophantos,
which was mentioned above
(pp. 140, 141),
and we may pro-
perly conclude that algebra, as

result of a continuous
we
find
it
in
Diophantos, was the
development which extended from the time of Euclid to that of Heron and of Diophantos, and was independent of external influences.
I
now
pass to the consideration of the actual rules which
Mohammed
quadratic, as
ibn Mfisii gives for the solution of the complete
compared with those of Diophantos.

-\-
We remarked
solving the
above
(p.
91) that Diophantos would appear,
when
equation ax'
so as to
bx
the
= c,
to have first multiplied
make
first
by a throughout, term a square, and that he would, with
our notation, have given the root in the form
Vi
b
.
Mohammed
"
ibn Musa, however,

is
first
divides by a throughout
The
solution
the same
;
or less, be specified
in the
when two squares or three, or more you reduce them to one single square and
same proportion you reduce also the roots and simple numbers which are connected therewith \" This discrepancy between the Greek and the Arabian algebraist is not a very
striking or important one; but
it is
worth while to observe that

;
Mohammed
ibn Musa's rule
is
not the early Indian one
for
Brahmagupta (born 598) sometimes multiplies throughout by a like Diophantos, sometimes by 4a, which was also the regular practice of (^'rldhara, who thus obtained the root in the form
.
This rule of Crldhara's

'
is
quoted and followed
2a by Bhaskara.
Another apparent discrepancy between Mohammed ibn Musa and Diophantos lies in the fact that Diophantos never shows any sign, in his book as we have it, of recognising two roots of a quadratic, even where both roots are positive and
and not only when one of them is negative: a negative or he would, of course, not recognise unless an equation has a real positive root it is for Diophantos "impossible." Negative and irrational roots appear to be tacitly ])ut aside by
real,
irrational value
'
Rosen, The
Al<jtl>r<i
of Muluimtiu-U
bfii
Miisu, p.
'..
164
DIOPHAIITOS OF ALEXANDRIA.
Mohammed ibn Musa and the earliest Indian algebraists, though both Mohammed ibn Musii and the Indians recognise the existence of two
roots.
The former undoubtedly

on this subject
is
recognises two roots,
at least in the case where both are real and positive.

definite statement
His most
given in his rule for the
solution of the equation x^

in
+ c = hx,
or the case of the quadratic
which we have "Squares and Numbers equal to Roots; for instance, a square and twenty-one in numbers are equal to ten That is to say, what must be the roots of the same square.' amount of a square, which when twenty-one dirhems are added
'
becomes equal to the equivalent of ten roots of that square? Halve the number of the roots the moiety is five. Multiply this by itself; the product is twenty-five. Subtract from this the twenty-one which are connected with the square
to
it,
Solution
the remainder
is four.
Extract
its root; it is
is
two.
;
Subtract this
is
from
three.
the moiety of the roots,
which
five
the remainder
This
is
is
the root of the square which you required, and
the square
nine.
Or you may add

is
the root to the moiety
of
the roots; the
sum
seven; this
is
the root of the square which
you sought for, and the square itself is forty-nine. When you meet with an instance lohich refers you to this case, try its solution by addition, and if that do not serve, then subtraction cerFor in this case both addition and subtraction may tainly will. be employed, which will not answer in any other of the three And cases in which the number of the roots must be halved. know that, when in a question belonging to this case you have halved the number of roots and multiplied the moiety by itself, if the product be less than the number of dirhems connected
with the
s(piare,
then the instance
is
impossible; but
if
the pro-
duct be equal to the dirhems by themselves, then the root of the square is equal to the moiety of the roots alone, without
either
In every instance where you addition or subtraction. have two squares, or more or less, reduce them to one entire This defisquare, as I have explained under the first case\" nite recognition of the existence of two roots, if Diophantos could be proved not to have known of it, would seem to show
Quoted from The Algebra of Mohavimed ben Musa
Rosen), pp. 11, 12.
'
(ed.
DTOPIIANTOS
that
AND THE EARLY ARABIAN ALGEBRAISTS. 155

ibu Musii could here have been indebted to
Mohammed
Rodet, however, remarks that we are not justified in concluding from the evidence that Diophantos did not know
India only.
of the existence of two roots: in the cases where one
is
negative
we should not expect him to mention it, for a negative root is for him "impossible," and in certain cases mentioned above (p.
92) one of the positive roots
serves that
is
irrelevant.
Rudet further obin
Mohammed
ibn Musa, while recognising
theory
two roots of the equation ,v^+c = bx, uses in practice only one, and that (curiously enough) in all instances the root corresponding to the sign minus of the radical. This statement however is not quite accurate, for in some examples of the rule which we quoted above he gives two possible values \
Mohammed
on algebra, so
important
ibn Milsa, being the
first
writer of a treatise
far as
we know,
is
for obvious reasons the
most
for the
purposes of this chapter.
If the influence of
Diophantos and Greek algebra upon the

is
earliest
Arabian algebra
with our
itself,
once established,
it is
clearly unnecessary to search so carefully

for points of connection
in the
works of
later
Arabians
author.
For, his influence having once for all exerted
the later developments would naturally be the result of other and later influences, and direct reminiscences of Diophantos
only a few
brevity.
3. Abu'1-Wafa Al-Buzjani wc have already had occasion mention (pp. 40, 41) as a translator of Diophantos and a commentator on his work. As then he studied our author so thoroughly it would be only natural to expect that his works would abound in reminiscences of Diophantos. On Abu'1-Wafa
would disappear or be obscured. I shall, therefore, mention other Arabian authors, and those with greater
to
perhaps the most important authority

to refer for details to his articles '^
is
Wopcke.
It
must
suftice
An Arabic MS. bearing the date 972 is concerned with 4. the theory of numbers throughout and particularly with the formation of rational right-angled triangles. Unfortunately the
Cf.
Rosen's edition, p. 42.
Cf. in particular the articles

LS.'}")).
on MalMmntiqucs chez
let
Arabt- {Journal
Asiatique for
156
beginning of
author.
it is lost, and with the beginning the name of the In the fragment we find the problem To find a square which, when increased or diminished by a given number, is again
a square proposed and solved. Tlie author of the fragment was undoubtedly an Arabian, and it would probably not be rash
to say that
5.
much
of
it
was based on Diopliautos.
Mohammed ibn Alhusain wrote a treatise on rational right-angled triangles at a date probably
Again,
later
Abu
Ja'far
not
much
than 992.
He
gives as the object of the whole

It
is
the investigation of the problem just mentioned.
note-
worthy (says Cantor) that a geometrical explanation of the solution of this problem makes use of similar principles to those
which we could trace in
Mohammed
ibn Musa's geometrical
proofs of the solution of the complete quadratic, and he further

definitely alludes to Euclid
II. 7. If we consider the use of means of finding solutions of this be the two sides of a right-angled triangle
right-angled triangles as a
problem, and
c^,
c^
which contain the right angle, then

hypotenuse, and
husain, c^
c'^
c^'
+ c^
is
the square of the
+ c^ +
'^c^c^ is
a square.
Hence, says Ibn Al-
-f c'^ is
a square which,
'Ic^c^, is
when
increased or diminished
by the same number
Diophantos says similarly that " in every right-angled triangle the square of the
still
a square.
hypotenuse remains a square when double the product of the (ill. 22.) other two sides is added to, or subtracted from, it."
6.
Lastly,
we must
consider in this connection the work of
Alkarkhi, already mentioned (pp. 24, 25). We possess two treatises of his, of which the second is a continuation of the The first is called Al-Kafi fll hisUb and is arithmetical, first. Cantor points the second is the Fakhrl, an algebraic treatise.
out that,
when we compare Alkarkhi's
arithmetic with that of

his,
certain Arabian contemporaries
and predecessors of
we
see
a marked contrast, in that, while others used Indian numeral signs and methods of calculation, Alkarkhi writes out all his
numbers
as words,
and draws generally from Greek sources
rather than Indian.
The advantages
of the Indian notation as
compared with Greek in securing clearness and compactness of work were so great that we might naturally be surprised to see Alkarkiii ignoring them, and might wonder that he could have
DIOPHANTOS AND THE EARLY ARABIAN ALGEBRAISTS. 157

been unaware of them
or
have undervalued them so much.

is,
Cantor, however, thinks that the true explanation
not that he
was ignorant of the Indian arithmetical methods and notation or underestimated their advantages, but that Alkarkh! was a representative of one of two mathematical schools in Arabia, the Greek and the Indian. Alkarklii was not the solitary representative of the Greek arithmetic; he was not merely an exception to an otherwise universal acceptation of the Indian method.
He was
rather, as
we
said,
a representative of one of two schools
standing in contrast to each other.

ciphers in
his arithmetic.
Another representative of
in
the Greek school was Abu'1-Wafa, who also makes no use of
Even
Alkarkhi's
arithmetical
treatise, as in the
works of Abu'1-Wafa, there are not wanting
These could hardly by any means have been avoided, at any rate as regards the matter of their
certain Indian elements.
treatises;
tically,
but the Greek element was so predominant that, prac-
the other
real
may be
neglected.
in this connection centres
But the
importance of Alkarkhi
Fakhri.
Here again he appears as an admiring pupil of the Greeks, and especially of Diophantos, whom he often mentions by name in his book. The Fakhri consists of two parts, the first of which may be said to contain
in his second
treatise, the
the theory of algebra, the second the practice

application
to
of
it,
or
the
particular
problems.
In
both parts we find

in this treatise
Diophantos largely made use of
Alkarkhi solves
not only determinate but indeterminate equations, so that he may be taken as the representative of the Arabian indeter-
minate
of the
analysi.s.
In his solutions of indeterminate ccjuations
and second degrees we find no trace of Indian methods. Diophantos is the basis upon which he builds, but he has also
first
extended the Greek algebraist.
If
we
refer
to the
account
which the Italian algebraists give of the evolution of the successive powers of the unknown quantity in the Arabian
system,
we
is
Alkarkhi
shall see (as already remarked, p. 71, n. 1) that an exception to the adoption of the Indian .system
of generation of powers by the vviltiplicution of indices.
He
uses the additive .system, like Diophantos.
The square
of the un-
ku.iwu bein^ mal, and the cube ka'b, the succeeding powers are
158
null ha'h, ka'b ka'h, iiuil
mal mrd,
ka'b, &c.
mal ha'h,
rncil
ka'h
Jca'b,
ka.h ka'b
Alkarklii speaks of the six forms of the quadratic which
Mohammed ibn MusJi distinguished and explains at the same time what he understands hy jab?' and mukabala. He appears to include both processes under jabr, understanding rather by mukdbala the resulting equation written in one of the six
forms.
Among
the examples given by Alkarkhi are .r^+10a;=39,
and 0;'^+ 21 = 10a;, both of which occur in Mohammed ibn Miisa. Alkarkhi has two solutions of both, the first geometrical, the second (as he expresses it) "after Diophantos' manner." The second of the two equations which we have mentioned he reduces to x^ 10a; + 25 = 4, and then, remarking that the first member may be either (x 5f or (5 xf, he gives the two The remarkable point about his solutions x = 7, and x = 2.
treatment of this equation
is
his use of the expression

it.
" after
Diophantos' manner" applied to
We
spoke above
(p.
92)
of the doubt as to whether Diophantos
knew
or did not
know
of the existence of two roots of a quadratic.
But Alkarkhi's
expression
" after
Diophantos' manner " would seem to settle
beyond the possibility of a doubt; and perhaps would not be going too far to take his words quite literally and to suppose that the two examples of the quadratic of which we are speaking were taken directly from Diophantos. If so, we should have still more du'ect proof of the Greek origin of
this question
it
Mohammed
it
ibn Miisa's algebra.

of
On
the other hand, however,
must be mentioned that

a;'^
the equation
+ 10^=39
;
two geometrical explanations of which Alkarkhi gives one cannot
be Greek. In the first of the two he derives the solution directly and this method is therefore solely Greek. from Euclid, ii. 6 But in the second geometrical solution he employs one line to represent x'^, another to represent 10j7, and a third to represent This confusion of dimensions is alien from the Greek 100.
manner
solution
we
is
must therefore suppose that
this
geometrical
an Arabian product, and probably a discovery of

instance
of an indeterminate ecpiation
Alkarkhi himself
As an
treated by
Alkarkhi we
may
give the equation mx^
+ nx + p =
y\
He
])o
gives as a cuudition for the solution that either
or
p must
DIOPHANTOS AND THE EARLY ARABIAN ALGEBRAISTS. 150

a square.
He
is
then puts for y a binomial expression, of which
one term
either Jlna? or JJ). exactly Diophantos' procedure.
This
is,
as
we have
seen,
With regard
to the collection of problems, whicli forms the
second part of the Fakhrl, we observe that Alkarklii only admits rational and positive solutions, excluding even the value
0.
In other cases the solution
is for
Alkarkhi as
for
Diophantos
" impossible."
Many
of the problems in indeterminate analysis
are taken directly from Diophantos,

in
and are placed
in the order
which they are there found.
Of a marginal note by
Alsiraj
at the end of the fourth section of the second part of the treatise
we have already spoken
(p. 25).
ADDENDUM.
Mr James Gow
In the note beginning on p. 6i I discussed three objections urged by in his History of Greek Mathematics against my suggestion The second of these objections as to the origin of the symbol <>) for dpi0/x6s. asserted that it is of very rare occurrence, and is not found in the >iss. of
Nikomachos and Pappos, where it might most naturally be expected. In reply to this, I pointed out that it was not in the least necessary for my theory that and accordingly I did not it should occur anywhere except in Diophantos raise the question whether the symbol was found in mss. so rarely as Mr Gow appears to suppose. Since then I have thought that it would be interesting to
;
inquire into this point a

\;\liile
little
further, without, however, going too far afield.
reading Heiberg's Quaestiones Archimeikae in connection with the Cattleproblem discussed in chapter viii. it occurred to me that the symbol for apiOnos
would be
it
likely to be found, if
Ubclhts of Archimedes,
which Heiberg gives
anywhere, in the mss. of the De areiiae mimero at the end of the book, and that, if
did so occur, Heiberg's textual criticisms would i^lace the matter beyond doubt, without the necessity of actually collating the mss. My expectation proved to be fully justified for it is quite clear that the symbol occun-cd in the
;
MSS. of this work of Archimedes rather frequently,

rise to exactly the will
and that its form had given same confusion and doubt as in the case of Diophantos. I here give references to the places where it undoubtedly occurred. See the
following pages in Heiberg's book,

p. 172.
p. 174.
Heiberg reads dpL6fwv, with the remark

similarity of the signs for api6fi6s
could hardly be anything else
But the "/cat omnes." and Kai is well known, and it than this similarity which could
cause such a difference of readings.

p. 187.
Heiberg's remark "
apiOfxiov
om. codd. Bas.
excidit ante
si
(Kai)"
speaks for
p. 188.
p. 191.
js
itself.
Also on the same page "dpiOnwu]
FBC."
three times for dpiBixuv.
Here there
is a confusion between 5" (six) and dpiOfxis, where Heiberg remarks, "Error ortus est ex compendio illo uevhi dpiOfios,
I,
de quo dixi ad
p. 192.
3."
iXaTTuv and dpid/xos given as alternative readings, with the observation, " Confusa sunt compendia."
clear that the
Thus
it is
of another arithmetical treatise,

in this connection
:
a fact
symbol in question occurs tolerably often in the mss. and that the only one which I have investigated whicli certainly does not support Mr Gow's statement
that
it is
veiy rarely found.
APPENDIX.
ABSTRACT OF THE ARITHMETICS AND THE TRACT ON POLYGONAL NUMBERS.
H. D.
DIOPHANTOS.
ARITHMETICS.
BOOK
I.
Introduction addressed
Definitions.
1.
to
Dionjjsios.
"Square" and
" Power."
"side," "cube," "square-square,"

8",
k",
etc.
2.
Notation
88",
Sk",
kk", /a",
c^.
;
Corresponding fractions, the reciprocals of the foi-mer 3. used corresponding to the " nimibers."
4.
names
"]S'umber"x"Number"=
"
square.
Square x square = "squarc-
squai-e," &c.
5.
6.
*
Number "
x corresponding fraction
= unit
(/xoi-ds).
"Species" not changed by multiplication with monads.

I
Reciprocal x reciprocal - reciprocal scpiare,
etc.
9.
Minus
multiplied by
minus
gives j^lus.
Notation for minus,
/p.
10.
11.
Division.
Remark on
familiarity with processes.
Simplification of equations.
Frohlenis.
1.
Divide a given number into two having a given difference.
Given nund)er 100, given

Lesser
difference 10.
number required
2.+
x.
Therefore
40-100,
X
-
30.
The required numbers

2.
an- 70, 30.

a given nitio.
To
divide a given
number
into
."3
two having
:
1. Given number GO, given ratio Two numbers x, 2>x. Therefore ./j- ir. Till" numbers arc 45, 15.
112
164
3.
DIOPHANTOS OF ALEXANDRIA,
To
'.
divide a given
number
into
two having a given
ratio
and
diffei-ence
Given number 80 ; ratio 3:1; diflference 4. Smaller number x. Therefore the larger is 3x +
4,
x=
1 9.
The numbers are

4.
61, 19.
Find two numbers in a given
ratio, their difference also
being
given.
Given
ratio
5:1.
Diffei'ence 20.
Numbers
5.
5x, x.
Therefore
x-6, and
into
is
the numbers are 25,
5.
To
divide a given
number
given fractions (not the same) of each
two such tliat the sum of a given number.
Necessary condition.
the numbers arising
The
latter given
number must
lie
between
first
when
the given fractions are taken of the
given number.
First given
sura 30.
number
100,
given
fractions
;^
and -, given
Second part
Therefore
5a-.
Therefore
first
part = 3 (30
- x).
90 +
2a;
= 100,
x=
5.
The required parts

6.
are 75, 25.
To
of
divide a given
number
into
two
parts, such that a given
fraction
one exceeds a given fraction of the other by a given
difierence.
Necessary condition.
The
latter
which
arises
when
that fraction of the
number must be less than that first number is taken which
exceeds the other fraction.
Given number 100

Second part Gx
parts are 88, 12.
7.
fractions 4
and -respectively
G
excess 20.
2,
Therefore 10.v+80=100, x =
and the
From
the same (rcqiiired)
number
to take
ratio.
away two given
numbers, so that the remainders are in a given
Given numbers 100, 20; ratio X required number. Therefore

a;- 100
8.
:
3:1.
3,
.;^
a- 20 = 1
140. so
To two given numbers to add that the sums ai-e in a given ratio.
1
tlie
same (required) number,
By
thiH Diojihantos
means
" such that one
is
so
many
times the other
ylm
a given number."
ARITHMETICS.
Cotulilion.
BOOK
I.
165
This ratio must bo
less
tlmu that of the greater given
number
to tlie smaller.
Given numbers 100, 20, given ratio 3:1. X required number. Therefore 3a; + 60 = a: +100, and x=20,
9.
From two given numbers

two remainders are
to subtract the
same (required) one
so that the
in a given ratio.
Condition.
This ratio must be greater than that uf the greater
given number to the smallei'.
Given numbers 20, 100, ratio 6 X required number. Therefore

1
1.
20 -
6x-
= 100 -
X,
and
a;
4.
Given two numbers, to add the same (required) number the smaller, and subtract it from the lai-ger, so that the sum
10.
to
in
the
first
case
may have
to
the
difference in the second a given
ratio.
Given numbers
20, 100, given ratio
4:1.
a;
X required number. Therefore 20 + x100-cc = 4

:
:
1,
and
76.
11.
Of two given numbers

a given ratio.
20,
to
add the
first to,
and subtract the
second from, the same (required) number, so that the numbers which
arise
may have
Given numbers
100 respectively, ratio
3:1.
X required number. Therefore 3a; - 300 = a; + 20, and x =

12.
160.
To
divide a given
number twice
into
two
parts, such that
the
fii-st
of the first pair
may have
to the first of the second a given
ratio,
and
also the second of the first pnir to the second of the second
ratio.
another given
Given number 100,

second
first
ratio of greater of
fii-st
parts to less of
2:1, 3:1.
ratio of greater of second parts to less of
X smaller
of second parts.
The
parts then are
J"" 100,
. 1 2a; j
'int^
^^^ ~ ^" [ X J
Therefore 300
5x-
00,
x-
40,
and the parts are

13.
(80, 20), (60, 40).
To
divide a given
number
thrice into
two
parts, such that
one
of the first parts
and one
of the second pai-ts, the other of the second
166
DIOPUANTOS OF ALEXANDRIA.
parts and one of the third parts, the other of the tliird parts and the
remaining one of the

second 3
first parts,
are respectively in given ratios.
Given number 100,

:
ratio of gi-eater of first parts to less of
1,
of greater of second to less of third
2:1,
2x,
Gx.
and
less
of greater of third to less of first of third parts.
4:1.
first
X smaller
Therefore greater of second

of
= 100 - 2x, greater Therefore less of first = Gx- 200. Hence greater of third = 2ix - 800. Therefore 25^-800 = 100, a; =36,
of second
= = 300 -
and the respective divisions are

li.
(84, 16), (72, 28), (64, 36).
two numbers such that their product has to sum a given ratio. [One is arbitrarily assumed subject to the]
To
find
their
Condition.
The assumed value
of one of the two
must be greater
1].
than the numerator of the ratio [the denominator being Ratio 3:1. x one number, the other 12 ( > 3).
12a;
Therefore
3a;
+30,
4, 12.
a;
4,
and the numbers are

15.
two numbers such that each after receiving from the other a given number may bear to the remainder a given ratio.
To
find
Let the
first receive 30 from the second, ratio being then and the second 50 from the first, ratio being then Therefore the first = 2x - 30, cc 4- 30 the second.
2:1, 3:1.
and
Therefore x
16.
a;
2a;- 80=3 + 80 1. 64, and the numbers arc

:
:
98, 94.
To
find three
numbers such that the sums of each pair are
given numbers.
Condition. Half the
sum
of all
must be greater than any one
singly.
Let
(1)
(2)
20,
(2)
(3)
30,
(3)
(l)
40.
x the sum of the three.
Therefore the numbers are

40,
X - 30, X Hence the sum x = 3x' - 90. and the numbers ai-e 15, 5,
17.
X - 20.
a;
Therefore
25.
45,
To
find four
numbers such that the sums
of all sets of three
are given.
Condition.
One
third of the
sum
of all
must be greater than
any one
singly.
Sums
of threes 22, 24, 27, 20.
ARITHMETICS.
X the sum of
Therefore
4x-
HOOK
-27,
I.
107
all four.
a;
Therefore the mimhera uro
.T-22,
-24,
a;
a;
-20.
- 93 = x, .r = and the numbers are 9, 7,

18.
31
4, 11.
numbers such that the sum exceeds the third by a given number. Given excesses 20, 30, 40. 2x sum of all, x = 45. The numbers arc 25, 35,
find
To
three
of any puir
30.
19.
[A
To
different solution of the foregoing problem.]

find four
20.
numbers such that the sum of any three exceeds

must be
the fourth by a given number.

Condition.
Half the sum of the four given
dilterences
greater than any one of them.
Given differences
2a;
20, 30, 40, 50.

Tlierefoi-c the
the
sum
of the four required numbers.
numbers are
a;- 10,
a;- 15,
2.f,
x-20, x-2b.
and
.^=
Therefore
4x- 70 =
35.
Therefore the numbers are 25, 20, 15, 10.

21. 22.
[Another solution
of the foregoing.]
To
divide a given
number
into three, such that the
sum
of each
ratio.
extreme and the mean has to the remaining extreme a given
Given number 100 X the

third.
4a;
(1)
(2)
=3
(3),
fore
Hence the sum =100.
of first
4.(1). (2) + (3) and second = 3a-. There-
X=
25,
and the sum of the

'.
first
two =
75.
y the
first
y=
23.
20.
Therefore by = 100, Therefore (2) + (3) = 4v/. The required parts are 20, 55, 25.
To
find three
numbers such that the greatest exceeds the

least,
middle number by a given fraction of the
the middle exceeds
the least by the same given fraction of the greatest, but the least
exceeds the same given fraction of the middle number by a given
number.
1
syllable for the

for the
lirtit.
As already remarked on pp. 80, 81, Diophantos docs not uso a second uuknowu, but uses dpiO/xos for the second oiHiratiou as well ob
168
Condition.
TJlOPHANTOS OF ALEXANDRIA.
The middle number must exceed the
least
by such a
is gi-eater
fraction of the greatest, that if its denomiuator be multiplied into
the excess of the middle
number over the
least,
the result
than the middle number.

Greatest exceeds middle by ^ of least, middle exceeds least by o
of greatest, least exceeds ^ of middle by 10.
aj
+ 10 the
least.
Therefore middle
12^,
45, 37^, 22|^.
3aj,
greatest
6a;
-30.
Therefore
x-
and the numbers are

24. 25.
[Another solution of the foregoing.]
To
find three
numbers such
itself,
that, if each give to the
next
following a given fraction of
in order, the results after each has
given and taken
may be
equal.
Let
first
give ^ of itself to second, second
of itself to third,
third
of itself to
first.
Assume the second to be a number divisible by The numbers are 6, 4, 3a; the first, and x = '2.
26.
4,
say
4.
5.
Find four numbers such

itself,
that,
if
each give to the next
following a given fraction of
the results
-
may
all
be equal.
other
Let
first
give ^ of itself to second,
-, ^ being the
fractions.
Assume the second to be a multiple of 4, say 4. 3a; the first. The second after giving and taking becomes
Therefore
fourth
first
a;
+ 3.
of
after giving
3.
to second
and receiving
= a; +
Therefore fourth
to first
=18- 6a;.
r^
And
fourth after giving 3
- a;
and receiving
60.
of third
= a; +
3.
Therefore third
=
1
30a;
Lastly the third after giving
6.x-
2 to fourth
and receiving
from second =
24a;
a;
3.
Therefore
a;
- 47 -
3,
a;
50
ô
ARITHMETICS.
]J0OK
I.
100
m, Therefore *i the numbers

I-
are
1^0
^
,
4,
-^
120
*
111 ~ok
'
or,
multiplying by the
find three
common
denominator, 150, 92, 120, 114.

that, if each receives a given
27.
To
numbers such
fraction of the
sum
of the other two, the results are all equal.

-r,
The
fractions being
is
the
sum
of the second and third

first.
assiimed to be
3,
and x put
for the
The numbers
28.
are, after
multiplying by a
common denominator,
13, 17, 19.
To
find four
numbers such
that, if each receives a given
fraction of the
eqiial.
sum
of the remaining three, the four results are
The e;iven
fractions being
77 3
;r
we
a^suvie the
sum
of
the last three numbers to be
3.
Putting X for the
first,
Diophantos finds in
like
manner
that
numbers are
47, 77, 92, 101.
Given two numbers, to find a third which, when multiplied 29. by each successively, makes one product a square and the other the
side of that square.
Given numbers 200, 5. X required number, 200a; = (oxY,

30.
a;
8.
To find two numbers
ivhose
sum and whose product

sum
7nust exceed
'.
are
given.
Condition.
The square of ludf
the
tlie
product
by a square number, Iuti
Se tovto irXaaixaTiKov
Given sum 20, product 9G. 2x the difierence of the required numbers. Therefore numbers are 10 + x, 10 -x.
Hence 100-aj'=96.
Therefore x ^
are 12,
1
2,
and the difierence =
4.
The required numbei-s
8.
There has been much controversy as

all
to
the
moaninR
of
this diflicult
phrase.
Xylancler, the author of the Schoha, Bachct, Cossali, Schulz, NcbhoI-
mann,
it
discuss
it.
As
do not profess here
to
text I shall uot criticise their respective views, hut ouly remark
is best
bo commcntinR on the tliat I think

this condition can
to take TrXaff/xariKov in a passive sense.

i.e.
"And
(easily)
be formed,"
can be investigated (and shown
to
bo tnu), or
</i..
covered.
170
31.
2^0
find two numbers, luiving given their
sum and
the sian
of their squares.
Condition.
Double the
sum of
the squares
must exceed
the
square
of their sum by a
sqxiare, Icrri Se KaX tovto irXaa-fxaiLKov.
Sum
20,
sum
of squares 208.
2x the
difference.
Therefore the numbers arc 10 + .r, 10 - cc. Thus 200 + 2x- = 208. Hence x = 2, and the numbers are 12, 8.
32.
To
find
two numbers, having given their sum and the
difference of their squares.
Sum
20, difference of squares 80.
2x difference of the numbers,
and we
33.
find the
numbers
12, 8.
I'ofind two munbcrs whose difference
and product
are given.
differ-
Condition.
Four times
the 2)roduct together

Icttl Se
with square of
ence must produce
a complete square,
4,
koI tovto TrXao-ynariKo'v.
Difference
product 96.
Therefore the numbers are found to bo
12, 8.
2x the sum.
31.

is
ratio sucli that the
sum
of
their squares
to their
:
sum
5
:
also in a given ratio.

1
Ratios 3
and
respectively.
X
35.
lesser
number,
x1]
the numbers are
2, 6.

is
ratio such that the
sum
of
their squares
to then- difference in a given ratio,

:
Ratios being 3
36.
1,
10
1,
the numbers are
2, 6.
Find two numbers

Ratios being 3
1
in a given ratio such that the difference
of their squares is to their

:
sum
and
in a given
i*atio.
6:1,
the numbers arc
3, 9.
37.
Find two numbers

is
in a given i\atio such that the difference
of their squares
to their difference in a given ratio.

:
Ratios being 3
and 12
1,
the numbers are 3,
9.
Similarly by this method can be found two

ratio (1) such tliat their product is to their
(2)
numbers
in a given
sum
in a given ratio, or
such that their product

38.
is
to their diflerence in a given ratio. in a given ratio such that the square
To
find
two numbers
1
of the smaller is to the larger in a given ratio.
Ratios 3
and
6:1.
Numbers
54, 18.
ARITHMETICS.
39.
BOOK
I.
171
tliu
To
find
is
two numbers
1
in a given ratio such that
square
of the smaller
to the smaller itself in a given ratio.

:
Ratios 3
40.
and G
1.
Numbers
18, 6.
To
find
two numbers
in a given ratio such that the sfûaro
of the less has a given ratio to the
Ratios
41.
3:1,2:1.
sum Numbers
of both.
24, 8.
To
find
two numbers
1
in a given ratio such that the square
of the smaller has a given ratio to their diUcrcncc.
Ratios 3
42.
and G
1.
Numbers
36, 12.
Similarly can be found two numbei-s in a given ratio,

(1)
such that square of larger has a given ratio to the smaller.
(2)
such that square of larger has to larger
itself
a given
i-atio,
(3) such that squai'e of larger has a given ratio to the
sum
or
difference of the two.

43.
Given two numbers,

paii's
p.
to find a tliird such that the
sums
of
the several
multiplied by the corresponding third give three
numbers
in A.
Given numbers 3, 5. X the required number.

3a;
Therefore the three expressions are

of the
Now
5a; +15, 8a;. + 15 must be either the middle or the least three, 5a; + 15 cither the greatest or the middle.
+15,
3a;
(1) 5a;+ 15 greatest,
3x+
lo least.
15 Therefore x=- -^
Therefore
(2)
5x+
15 greatest, 3a;+ 15 middle.
x^
15
(3) 8a; greatest, 3a;
+ 15
least.
Therefore x = 15.
"
172
BOOK
[The
first five
11.
questions of this
Book
1.
arc identical with questions in

to the
Book
other
I.
In each case the ratio of one required number
is
assumed to be 2
The enunciations only
are here
given.]
1.
To
find
two numbers whose sum
is
to the
sum
of
their
squares in a given ratio.

2.
Find two numbers whose difference
is
to the difference of
their squares in a given ratio.

3.
Find two numbers whose product
is
to their
sum
or difference
in a given ratio.
4.
Find two numbers such that the sum
of their squares is to
the diffei'ence of the numbers in a given ratio.

5.
Find two numbers such that the difference of their squares
is
to the
6.
sum
of the
numbers in a given
ratio.
Find two numbers having a given
difference,
and such that
the difference of their squares exceeds the difference of the numbers
themselves by a given number.

Condition.
The square
of their difference
must be
less
than the
sum
of the
two given
differences.
Difference of numbers 2, the other given number 20. Therefore x + is the larger and X the smaller number. 4a; + 4 = 22.
'2
a;
= 4|, and
the numbers
ai*e
4|, 6 J.
7.
may be
Find two numbers such that the diflTerence of their squares greater than their diflTerence by a given number and in a
it)'.
given ratio (to

Coiulition.
[Difference asswned.]
of the
ratio being 3:1, the square of tlie difference numbers must be < sum of three times that difference and the
ui.
The
given number.
'
By
this
Diophautos mcaiiK
"may
exceed a given proportion or fractio
it
by a given number.
ARITHMETICS.
Given number
BOOK
II.
17:^
10, difference of nunibei-s required 2.
X the smaller number. Therefore the and 4a; + 4 = 3 2+10.

.
hirger
x+
2,
Therefore
a;
3, 3, 5.
and the niimbei-s are

8.
To divide a square mnnber into two Let the square number be IG.
x^
squares.
one of the required squares.

equal to a square.
of the form' {nix
Therefore IG-.r* must be
Take a square
i.e.
- 4)-,
it
4 being taken as the

1 G.
absolute term because the square of 4 =
take (say)
(2a;
-4)* and equate

4.'c-
to 16 -a;'.
Therefore
- 1 Gx = - x'.
a^
Therefore
"5"
, '
^.v 'A are and the squares required

9.
-^ -^
,
256
144
.
[Another solution of the foregoing, practically equivalent.]

I'o
10.
divide a
number which
is the
sum of two
squares into two
other squares.
Given number 13 = 3'+2^
As
the roots of these squares are
2, 3,
take [x +
2)*
a.<?
the
first
3)*.
square and {mx Therefore

(x
3)" as tlie
)^'
second required, say

3)^'
(2x-
(2a;
324
Therefore the required squares are -^^
11.
>
05
"
To find two square numbers diflWing by a

Given difference
Side of one
GO.
x,
t/iven ntimber.
number
(x-
side of the other

3.
a;'
x phis any number
whose square < GO, say

Therefore
3)^'
= 60,
j.
and the required
.squares are 72], 132
Diophantos' words are:
"I form the
s(iuare
from any number of apiBnol
minus as
many
units as are contained in the side of U)."
The
prt-eftution
tli-ii tli.
r.
imsuli
plied throuRhout in the choice of
is
that we
i.e.
may
be rational in Diophantos' sense,
must assume it so rational and positive.
174
12.
To add such a number
Given numbers x+
2) o)
to
each of two given numbers that
the results shall both be squares.

(1)
2, 3,
required
number
x.
Therefore
x+
^M^^^^st each be squares. ^
This
is called
it,
a double-equation.
To
solve
take the difference between them,

:
and
.
resolve it into
tioo factors^
in this case say 4
and
-.
Then
take either
(a) the
square of half the difference bettveen these factors

equate
it to the
and
smaller expression,
or (b) the sqriare of half the
sum and
equate
it to tlie larger.
In this case
(a) the
square of half the diflference
= -^
225
.
m r Iheretorc
...
^.
^= x+ o
225 yrr o4 225
>
^^^ ^ wr,
d4
97
289
,
Avhilc the squares are -rr-
-ttt
(2)
In order to avoid a double-equation,
First find a
number which added
to 2 gives a square, say x^
2.
Therefore, since the same
number added to x' + 1= square = {x- 4y say,
3 gives a square,
the absolute term (in this case 4) being so chosen that the
solution
may
give x^>2.
Therefore
x=-^
is
15
,
and the required number

13.
97
as before.
Fro77i two given
numbers
to take the
same (required) number
so tluit both the remainders are squares.
Given numbers 9, 21. Assuming 9 - x^ as the required number we satisfy one condition, and it remains that 12 + a;" = a square. Assume as the side of this square x minus some number whose
square
> 12,
say
4.
Wc
tioual" result.
must, as usual, choose suitable factors, This must always be premised.
i.e.
such as
will give
a "ra-
'
ARITHMETICS.
Therefore
(x
HOOK
1
II.
175
4)^
+ x\
^ = 2'
and the required number
14.
is
8|.
to subtract sui-cessiv:/;/
Fro7n the same {required) number
two
given munbers so that the remainders

6,
may
both be squares.
7 the given numbers.

cc
Tlien
(1) let
be required number.
cb
Tlierefore
G~|
are both squares.
The
and,
difference
l)y
1,
which
is
the product of 2 and
.^
the rule for solving a double-equation,
121
(2)
To avoid a double-equation seek

a square by
6,
number which exceeds
i.
e.
let
a;"
G be the required number.

1
:
Therefore also x- -
square = {x-
2)' say.
Hence
^~I
and the number required = tr

15.
number
number.
tohich
To divide a given number into when added to either of

20.
tioo ])arts,
and tojind a square
the
two parts gives a square
Given number
squares
< 20,
"We then have
and
if
are respectively
Take two numbci-s the sum of whose Add x to each and square. 2, 3. x^ + 4a; + 41 X' + Gx + 'd) 4.x- + 4]^ 6a; + 9j subtracted the remaindei-s are the same s<|uiire.
say
'
Let then x- be the square required,
and therefore
4a;
4"|
Gx + Oj
the required parts of 20.
Then
and
10X-+13-20,
X^
iV,
.
'
176
(68
iTi
'
132\
~i7r
)
49
and the required square

16.
rrrrr
To
divide a given
number
into
two parts and
find a square
which exceeds either part by a square.
Given number 20. Take (x + rtif for the required square, where m' < 20, i.e. let (x + 2Y be the required sqi;are (say). if either 4a; + 4) This leaves a square ^ ^ ^ ? 1*5 subtracted, or 2.r + 3J
.
Let these be the parts of 20,
and
x=-7,
b
>
/76 44\ Therefore the parts required are (-w, /. )

17.
.625
is
-^^
ob
ratio such that cither together
with an assigned square produces a square.
Assigned square
If
9, ratio
3:1.
is
we take a
it,
square whose side
mx +
and subtract 9 from
the remainder will be one of the numbers required.

(x
Take
e. g.
Therefore
3a;*
and 3x* +
Therefore
18a;
3)^ - 9 = cc^ + 6a; for the smaller number. + 18a; = the larger number, + 9 must be made a square - (2.x-- 3)" say.
x = 30, and the required numbers are 1080, 3240.
18.
To
find three
numbers such
that, if each give to the
next
following a given fraction of itself and a given

results after each has given
number
besides, the
and taken may be
equal.
itself
First gives to second - of itself

i>
6,
second to third ^ of b
8.
7, third to first
= of
itself
Assume
,.,.
that the
-,
first
two are
,
5x,
,
Gx [equivalent
^
-
to one con,
ditionj, aiul
we
,.
find the numbei"s to be
,,
90
,
108
-=-
105
.
ARITHMETICS.
19.
BOOK
H.
.sati-sfyinfj tlio
177
conditions
Divide a number into throe parts

preceding problem.
of
tlie
Given number 80.
First gives to second p of itself + G
ic,
and
results are equal.

for tlie first
,
[Diophantos a.ssumes 5x, 12

result
,^
.
two
nunilM-rs,
and
his
170
-y^,
228
IS
217
;
but the solution does not cor(See

p.
2.5.)
respond to the question.]

20.
est
To
find three squares such that the difference of the greatis
and the second Given

ratio
to the diffei-ence of the .second
and the
lea.st in
a given ratio.
3:1.
^- .r^,
Assume
the least square
the middle =
.r*
-I-
2x
-f 1.
Therefore the greatest = x + 8x + 4 = square = {x + SYsay. Therefore
^ '
and the squares are 30|, 12^,

21.
6;^.
To
X, 2a;
find
two numbers such that the square

is
of either
added
to the other
number
-1-
a square.
are assumed, which by their form satisfy one con-
dition.
4x-
The other condition gives + 5x + \ ^ square = (2.c - 2)"

,-
say.
Therefore
3 --,
and the numbers are :^

Id
22.
19
,
^^ lo
the other
a;
To find two numbers such number is a square.

-f-
that the square of
eitlier utitntu
2.r
-f-
are assumed, satisfying one condition.

4.7;^
-i-
Therefore
Therefore
3x - square -^
9,r*
say.
3
?
>
and the numbers are

23.
To
find
two numbers such that the sum

is
of the square of
either
and the sum of both
a square.
Assume
H. D.
x,
x+l
for the
numbers.
These
satisfy
one condi-
tion.
12
178
Also
a;*
DIOPnANTOS OF ALEXANDRIA.
+ ix + 2 must be a square = x=
1
-,
.
{x
2)* say.
Therefore
4
5
Hence the numbers

24.
are
^ 4
of either
find two numbers such that the clifTerence of the square and the sum of both is a square. Assume x + 1, x for the numbers, and we must have a;^ - 2a; - 1 a square = {x- 3)- say.
To
Therefore
x=^,
2^.
and the nvimbei's are 3|,

25.
To
find
two numbers such that the sum

is
03"
of either
and the
square of their sura

Since
let
a square.
3x^, x^
+ 8x' are
squares,
the numbers be 3x-, Sx- and their

1 Icc^
sum
x.
Therefore
= a; and
a;
= yy
8
,
Therefore the numbers are

26.
y^
ynT
of the
To find two nunibers such that the difference of the square sum of both and either number is a square. If we subtract 7, 12 from 16 we get squares. Assume then 12a;', 7x^ for the numbers, 1 6a;" = square of sum.
Therefore
Idoif
ix,
x=
112
4
^1)
f
and the numbers are ^^

27.
192
,
^r^^
obi
obi
To
is
find
product
a square, and the
two numbers such that the sum of either and their sum of the sides of the two squan s
number, 6 suppose.
let
a;,
so arising equal to a given
Since x
(4a;
1)
+ a; = square,
3a;
4a;
be the numbers.
is
Therefore
4a;*
1 is
a square, whose side
2a;.
Therefore
37 x = --,
1
in the numbers are and

28.
37
-
121
,
.
^1
til
To
duct and either

squares so
two numbers sndi that tlu; difference of their prois a square, and the sum of the sides of the two arising equal to a number, 5.
find
ARITIIMKTICS.
ROOK
II.
17!
Assume
4a;
1,
for tlie nuinheis, wliicli tlicit.'foie satisfy on*-
condition.
Also
4.V*
3x-
{')
2,<f
Thoivforc
"''
.r
:
17'
26 and the numbers are 29.
121
,
To find two square numhrrs such that the sum of the product
a square.
'
and
either is
Let the numbers

Therefore
o
be
x", y".
a;V + .r-j
..\
are both snuares. '
To make
the
x^
first
a square we
1)-.
make
x"
+
4
a square, putting
= (x to
Therefore x =
'-.
We
Put
have now
different
make y
x\.
(_j/^
1)
a square
[and y must be
from
9/
+ 9 = (3^ - 4)' sav.

y=-^-:.
9
Therefore
Therefore the numbers are . lb

30.
0/b
their
^^
49
pi*oduct
To find two square numbers such that the difference of and either is a square.
a;',
Let
y'
be the numbers.
aJ*2/^
Therefore
'/)
X2y 2 X zf )
^^^
,, ^^<^Vi\
,
squares.
,
2;")
solution of x?
-\
^ square
is re
.^
and a solution
m,
,
of y-
= square
25
,
is _?/=
. Therefore the numbers are

1
289
,
lb
-^ .
04
their product
31.
To
find
two numbers such that
their
sum
gives a square.
to bo 1 DIophantos docs not use two unknowns, but assumes the numl)crs wliat be and 1 until ho has found x. Then he uses the same unknown to find to tho had first called unity, as explained above, p. 81. The same remark applies
x"-
next problem.
12-2
180
a'
+
^=
2ab
is
a square.
Put
2,
3 for a,
b,
and
2
2-
Assume then product = the numbers being x, 1 3x, and the sum
is
a square.
(2'
.
+ 3' 2 2 3 = 13a;", + 3")

.
.
.x*^
3aj
or
1 2x-.
Thei-efore
14a;
1 2x^,
and
x=
91 -^
b
.
^.
Therefore the numbers
7 are ^
32. To find two numbers whose sum is a square and ha\dng the same property as the numbers in the preceding problem.
2m
m = square,
and 2m\^ + i|^ 2
2m.
4.
in
= square.
20a;'
2a;,
Ifw-2,
their
.
4'+2'2.4.2 = 36or
.
Let then the product of numbers be (4' + 2') x^ or sum 2 4 2x- or 16a;*, and let the numbers be
Therefore
1 2a;
and
lOx.
1 Qx',
x = -,
and the numbers are ^ 4

33.
30 -t-. 4
of
To
find three
numbers such that the sum of the square

1)
any one and the succeeding number is a square. Let the first be x, the second 2a; + 1, the third 2 (2a'+ or 4a; + 3, so that two conditions are satisfied.
Lastly
(4a;
3)'
+ x = square =
a;
(4a;
4)" say.
Therefore
- ^^ 57
71
, ,
and the numbers are _^
199 ^ -^
of
To find three numbers such that the difieronce of the square 34. any one and the succeeding number is a square. Assume first a; + l, second 2a: +1, third 4a; + 1. Therefore two conditions are satisfied, and the third gives
1 Ga;'
+7x = square =
"^
25a;* say.
Therefore
7 n
>
and the numbers are n

35.
16
,
23
-q,
37
-q
To
find three
numbers such
the result
is
that, if the square of
any one be
added to the sum of

/7>i-n\
all,
a square.
^^^^
.^
^ square.
Take
number
soparublo into
ARITHMETICS.
two
BOOK
111.
IM
is tlio
factors (m, u) in three ways, say 12, whicli

(1, 12), (2, 6), (3, 4).
pro
duct of
The values then of

Let now o\x,
Therefore
2x,
^ are
5.\,
2,
^x
So;
be the numbers.
Their sum
is 12.r'.
1 2.t*,
a:
!^
and the numbei-s are

30.
^ ij
q
<J
To
find three
tracted from the square of
numbers such that, if the sum of auy one, the result is a square.
a square.
all
be sub-
^r
J
mn
is
Take 12
as before,
and
let G.^x,
Ax,
Zlx be the numbers, their sum being
\'2x*.
Therefore
, ,
x=
91 28 ,, and the numbers are vt, 12' 6

,
49
, '
,^^
12
BOOK
1.
III.
To
find three
numbers such
of
all,
that,
if
the square of any one be

is
subtracted from the
sum
the remainder
a square.
Take two squares
whose sum = 5x". Let the sum of all three numbers be 5.*;^, and two of the numbers These assumptions satisfy two couditions. X, 2x.
af, 4a;*
Next
divide 5 into the
sum
of two squares
4
[ii.
121
10] ^-^,
-^,
and assume that the third nuuiber

Therefore
is
2 t x.
x+2x+ ^x = 5x^
17
Therefore
a;
17
,,
and the numbers are

2.
34
,
34 ^-^
To
find three
numbers such
that, if the scjuare of the

is
sum be
added to any one of them, the suui
a s(|uan'.
L^^
ARITHMETICS.
Let the sum be
a;*
BOOK
III.
183
+ 2.+l, sum of fh-st and sccoml x*, and therefore the third 2a; + 1 ; let second + third = (x- 1)*. Therefore the first is 4a:, and therefore the secontl x* - 4x. But first + third = square, or G.t- + 1 = square -Vl\ say.
Therefore
s;
20,
and
8.
t]ie
numbers are
(80, 320, 41).
[The same otherwise.]
9.
To
find three
numbers
in A.
p.
such that the sum of any pair
is
a square.
First find three square
numbers
Let
is a;*
in A.
x^,
together
>
the third.
{x
therefore the tliird

Therefoi-e
4a;
+2
any two of which are 1 )* be two of these ; = (a; - 8)* say.

p.
x-
31
...,
or
we may take
as the squares 961, 1G81, 2401.
We
have now to find three numbers, the sum.s of pairs being these numbers.
Suin of the three =
^-^ =
252 U-,
and we have
all
the three numbers.
10. Given one number, to find three others such that the sura of any pair of them and the given number is a square, and also the sura of the three and the given number is a square.
first + second = x* + 4a; + 1, second + 6, sum of all three = x* + 8x + 13. Therefore third = 4. + 1 2, second = x- + 2x - 6, first = 2x + 7. Also third + first + 3 = square, or 6x+22 = squai-e=K)0sui)i)Ose. o: = 1 Therefore 3,
Given number
3.
Suppose
third - x"
G.f
and the numbers are

11.
33, 189,
64
Given one number,
to find three othci-s such that, if the
given
number be subtracted from

all
the
sum
of
any pair of them or
from the sum, the results are
squares.
Given number 3. Sum of first two x* + 3, of next pair Therefore x' + 2x + 4, and sum of the three x* + 4x + 7. third = 4x + 4, second = x* - 2x, first = 2x + 3. Therefore, Therefore x=10, and lastly, 6x + 4 = square -- 64 say.
(23, 80, 44) is a solution.
184
12. To find three numbers such that the sum of the product of any two and a given nmnher is a square. Let the given number be 12. Take a square (say 25) and subTake the difference (13) for the product of the tract 12.
first
and second numbers, and

1
let
these
numbers be
1 6,
ISrc, -
Again, subtract
diffei-ence
from another square, say
and
let the
4 be the product of the second and third
numbers.
Therefore the third number = ix.

condition
is
Hence the 52 = 4.
third
13,
gives
52.7;^+
12
square,
but
and 13
find
not a square, therefore this equato replace 13
tion cannot be solved by our method.
Thus we must
product
is
two numbers
is
and 4 whose
square.
a square, and such that either a square

if
+12 =
=
Now
the product
find
both are squares.

either + 12
Hence
square.
we must
two squares such that
The squares 4 and ^

Retracing our steps
satisfy this condition.
we put
4.r,
- for
the numbers, and
we
have to solve the equation

X'
+12 = square =
(as
+
,
3)^ say.
Therefore
=
a solution.
and
13.
(2, 2, ^) is
To
find three
numbers
10.
first
sui;h that, if
a given
is
number
is
sub-
tracted from the product of any pair, the result
a square.
Given number
Put product
and
of
and second
second
=a
.
square +
10=4 +
10 say,
let first
14.r,
Also let product of second
andthird=19. Therefore third = 19a;. Whence 2G6x-'- 10 must be a square; but 266 is not a square.
Hence, as in the preceding problem, we must find two squares
each of which exceeds a square by 10.
Now
-10-[--^-],
If
vi'
therefore
30|
is
one
sucli
square.
be another, ta'-XO must be a square
= (m -
2)" say, therefore in
3^.
AUITHMETICS.
Thus, putting 30 jr, -,
BOOK
III.
185
12;iu;
for the uumbei-s,

1
we
have, from
2)* say.
the third coudition, [)929x-^-
GO ^square =^(7 7a;-
Therefore
x=
,
^r=
1
and the numbers arc

1
,1
1240]
77
,
77
., '41'
,
5021
77
of
U.
added
To
find three
numbers such that the product
any two
to tlie third gives a square.
Take a square and subtract part of it for Let x^ +6x+d be one of the sums, and
be
9.
tlie tliinl
number.
let
the third
Therefore product of
fii'st
fii-st
and second =
number x* + 6x.
Let the
x,
therefore the second
= a; +
G.
From
the two remaining conditions

10a:
10a;
+ 54) + 6/
are both squares.

differing l)y 48, wliich
Therefore
we have
to find
two squares
are found to be IG, G4.
and
15.
(1, 7, 9) is
a solution.
To
tind
three

x+
product
of
any two
exceeds the third by a square.

First X, second
4, therefoi-e their
4a;.
is
x-
Ix,
and
we suppose
the third to be
Therefore by the other conditions

4x-
15a;
-2
The
and
Therefore
IG.
^''
^,
**^
a\
(4a;
^^'^
squares.
difference
=
f
IGa;
+4=4
)
1),
/ 4.r
+5
-^-TT
Y =
4 a;'
15a;.
= ^,^,
25
'ind the
numbers are found.

tlie
To
Let
find throe
numbers such that

second 4x +
third
product of any two
added to the square of the third gives a square.

first
be
x,
4,
1.
Two
conditions arc
thus
a;
satisfied,
(4a;
and the remaining one gives + 4)^ ^ a square - (4a; - 5)' say.
a^
Tlierefore
9
;r:t
>
and the numbers are
9,
328, 73.
186
17.
To
find three
of
any two
added to the sum of those two gives a square.

Leimna.
The squares
of
two consecutive numbers

third.
,
liave this
property.
Let
4,
9 be
two of the numbers, x the

10a;
5a;
Therefore
and
tlie
difference
5a;
ii.,
I must both be squares, ^ +4 + 5 = 5 (a; + 1).

,
+ 9)
Therefore by Book
i^^)'and
18.
(4, 9,
10a:
and
a;
=28,
28)
is
a solution.
\_Another solution of the foo'egoinff problem.]
Assume
the
first to
be
x,
the second
2-5
3.
Therefore
4a;
+ 3 = square =
one condition.
first
say,
whence
a;
= 5^, and
a;,
5^, 3
satisfy
Let the third be
5^ and 3
being the
Therefore
two.
4a; -,
+3
_,
)
>
Câ;
+ 5iJ
must both be squares, ^
.,
bid, since the copfficients in one expression are both greater
than those in the other, but neither of the ratios of corre-
sponding ones
is that
of a square
to
a square, our method
will not solve them.
Hence
(to replace 51, 3)
their product
their
we must find two numbers such that sum = square, and the ratio of the
1 is
numbers each increased by

a square.
the ratio of a square to
Let them be y and

dition
;
4?/
3,
which
3)'',
satisfy
the
latter
con-
and
so that product
+ sum = square we must have

say.
4y^
81/
+ 3 - square = (2^ 3 y = -3
^tt, 45,
a;
Therefore
Assume now
Therefore
for the numbers.
oja;
+
"^
4M
3
\-
13x
ave both squares.
To"
or
10)
,
.
130a; +1051 -- 1-^1-^"--^' 130X+ 30J
ARITHMETICS.
the ditlerence
BOOK
III.
187
2"),
75,
-wliicli
has two factors 3 ami
and
X-
7
:Â
gives a solution,
7
.
the numbers being

19.
3
,
4J,
To
Put
fniil
three numbers
of those
siu-li
tliat
the iiroduct of any two
exceeds the
sum
first
two by
in
a square.
fall
into the same have to find two numbers such that their product minus their sum = square, and when each is diminished by one they have
difficulty as
X,
second any number, and we

the preceding.
We
the ratio of squares.

condition, and
it/-
4?/+l,
5
c
:>
y+l
satisfy
say.
the latter
- square -{2i/ 2)'

=
Therefore
!/
Assume then
Therefore
as the
numbers
13
-^,
~,
b
28
x.
2}^x-3U
5
,
''*''
8
or
_ ~ 8
are both squares,
lOx-U]
10a;-2Gj
"'"^
^.
'l"'^'"^^'
the difterence
12
=
o
2 .G, 3h,
and x
3.
=^
is
a solution.
The numbers are -^

20.
13
,
To
find
their product
added
to both
or to cither gives a square.
Assume
since
x,
x{ix-
1)
4a,-'
ix - 1 + x = ix^ = square.
Therefore also
3.x-
1 )
,
4x^ +
ix-l)
>
^, squares, arc both

,
the diflference
= x = 4a;
7 4
and
21.
X = ,j^ gives a
find
solution.
To
two numbers such that the product exceeds tho

V)y
sum
of both, and also cither severally,
stjuare.
Assume
since
4a; (x-
x+
+
1 )
1,
ix,
4a;
= scpiare.
188
Therefore also
4a;*
2
3.
~)
'j-
are both squares,
the difference
= ix = 4x.
1.
Therefore
a;=l],
and
22.
(2|, 5) is a solution.
that, if
To find four numbers such
we
take the square of the
sum any
one singly, all the resulting numbers are squares.
Since in a rational right-angled triangle square on hypotenuse
= squares on
of sides
sides,
square on hypotenuse
=*=
twice product
square.
will
Therefore
into
we must find a square which two squares in four ways.

first
admit of division
Take the right-angled

the sides of the
vice versa.
triangles (3, 4, 5), (5, 12, 13).
Multiply
by the hypotenuse
of the second
and
Therefore
we have
the triangles (39, 52, 65), (25, 60, 65).
Thus 65^
Also
Therefore 65^
is split
up
into
4'
.
two squares in two ways.
G5
= 7' +
= 8^-hP.
4"
= {T - ^J + 4 7^
= (8^ =
33''
1')^
+4
8M*
+ 56^= 63* +16',
which gives two more ways.
Thus 65*
is split
into
two squares in four ways.

of the
Assume now
first
as the
sum
.
numbers
65a;,
number = 2 .39
52a;*
=
=
4056a;*^
second
third
=2
25
60x*
56a;*
3000a;*
=2.33.
and the sum = 12768x*

i
3696a;*
fourth
=2.16.63.*=2016a;*j
65
Therefore 12768x-* = 65a; and x=i21Q9>'
and the numbers arc found,

17136600 163021824'
23.
sijuare
viz.
12675000 163021824'
15615600 163021824'
into
8517600 163021824"
j)arts,
To
divide a given
number
two
and
to find a
which exceeds either of the parts by a
scpiare.
1.
Let the given number be 10, and the square x" + 1x +
Put one
of the parts 2.'b+1, the other

if
fix-I-
4a;.
Therefore
the
conditions are satisfied
10.
ARITHMETICS.
3
HOOK
IV.
189
Tlierefore
X6, 4,
and the parts are

24.
the square 6].

into
To
divide a given
number
two
parts,
and
to find
ii
square which added to either of the parts produces a square.
Given number
Tliis is
20.
if
Let the square be
x^
+ 2x+\.
8.
.satisfied
a square
we add
ai'e
2a;
+ 3 or
4a;
Therefore, if these
the parts, the conditions are

or
a;
when
6a;
11
= 20,
~ H.
is
Therefore the numbers into which 20
divided an-
(6,
14)
is
6^.
BOOK
1.
IV.
To
divide a given
is
number
into
two
cubes, such that the
sum
of their sides
a given number.
Sides of cubes 5
Given number 370, sum of sides 10. + x,5-x. Therefore 30x' 4 250 = 370, x =
7^, 3^.
2,
and the cubes are

2.
To
find
two numbers whose
difference
is
given,
and
also the
difference of their cubes.
Difference
a;
6.
a;
Difference of cubes 504.
Let the numbcra
be-
3,
3.
Therefore
a;
1 8a;*
+ 54 = 504.
Tlierefore
a;'
25,
5,
2.
and the
3.
sides of the cubes are 8,
number
multiplied into a square and
its side
is
makes the
latter
product a cube of which the foi-mer product
the side; to find
the square.
Let the square be

Q
a;".
Therefore
its
side
is
x,
and
let
tho
number be
Hence the products

rr,,
are
8a;, 8,
and {Sxy =
Therefore
. a;
^ = 7-
190
DIOPnANTOS OF ALEXANDRIA.
4. To add the same number to a square and its side and make them the same, [i.e. make the first product a square of which the
second product
is side]'.
cc^,
Square
whose
side
is x.
Let the number added

3a;".
to x'
be
such as to make a square, say

Therefore Zx" + x
= side
of 4x
= 2x and x = ^.
is
The square
is
3 and the number
and
its
To add the same number 5. them the opposite.

Square
x^,
to a square
side
and make
the
number
of
ix
4a;"
- x.
=
2.r,
Hence
5a;^
-x = side
and x--=.
to a square
6. To add make them the
the same square
number
and a cube and
same.
o;^
Let the cube be

say
at
Ox--.
and the square any square number of

to the square 16a;^
9,
x^'s,,
Add
(The 16
1
is
arrived
by taking two factors of
say
and
9,
subtracting
them, halving the remainder and squaring.)

Therefore x^ +
16."
= cube = S.c'' suppose and
a;
make them
Whence
7.
the numbers are known.
Add
to
a cube and a square the same square and
the opposite.
[Call the cube (1), first square (2),
and the added square
(3)].
Now Now
suppose
a'
(2)
(3)
= (1)
[since (2)
(3)
=a
cube\.
+ y^2ah is a square. Suppose then {\) =a- + 1/, = 2ah. But (3) must be a square. Therefoi-e 2ab must be a square hence we put = 1, & = 2. Now (1) is a cube. Tlius suppose (1) = 5x^, (3) = 4,r-, (2) = x^. Therefore a? - 5, and (1)- 125, (2) = 25, (3) = 100.
(3)
;
'
111
this
aud the following enunciations

gained thereby.
the
have kept closely to the Greek,
partly for the purpose of showing Diophautos'

for the brevity
mode
of expression,
and partly
"To make them

brackets; "to
same" means
the opposite"
is
in the case of
-1
what
first
have put in
make them
means
to
make
the
product a side
of which the second product
the square.
ARITHMETICS.
8.
BOOK
IV.
191
[Another solution of the foregoing.]

Since (2) + (3) =
to find
(l), a cube, and (1) + (3) = .square, two squares whose .sum + one of thoni - a and whose sum = (l). Let the fii-st square be
I
havn
the
S(iuan',
ar*,
second
4.
Therefore 2.r + 4 = a square =
(2^;
2)' say.
Therefore x
= i,
and the squares are
IG, 4.
Assume now
Therefore
(2)
= ix\
(3)
IGx'.
20a;'
= a cube, and x =
is
20,
thus (8000, 1600, 6400)

9.
a solution.
to
To add
the
same number
cube
cidje
and
its side,
and make
them the same.
Added number
and
this
x,
8x-^,
say.
Therefore second
must be the
a;.
side of cube Sx^
x, or 8a;^
sum = 3a;, a; = 27x'.
Therefore 19x' =
But 19
is
not a square.
it.
Hence we must
3a;
find a square to
replace
Kow
the side
comes
fx-om the
assumed
2j;.
Hence we must
differ
find two consecutive
numbers whose cubes

and
y=
l.
by a square.
3v/"
Therefore
3v/
Let them he y, y+\. =square = (l 2?/)* say,
Thus instead of 2 and 3 we must take 7 and 8. Assuming now added number = x, side of cul)e = Ix, new cube 8a;, we find 343.<;' + x = 512x''\
Therefore
a;^
side of
=
^J^,
7
a;
l.
(343
10.
1 \
2197'T3'13;^'^'"^"^^""-
To add
Suppose
the
same number
to
a cube and
its sid'!
and
i/uikc
them
the opjwsite.
tlie
cube
8x-^, its
side 2x, the
number
27x-'
2a;.
Therefore 35x'
'^
2a;
= side
of cube 27j;', therefore 3r)x*-5
0.
This gives no rational value.

Therefore
bears to the
to a square.
Now
35 = 27 +
8,
3 +
2.
we must find two numbers the sum of sum of the numbers tlie ratio
say,
wlioso cubes
of a square
Let sum of sides = anything, 2

Therefore 8 12^3
and
side of first cul>c
:.
= twice a square. Therefore i-(jz + 3z^ = a .square = (2 - 45)*

+
6s'
sjiy,
and
= on-
192
of the sides
=
^
and the other
side
= j^
Take
for
them
and
8.
Assuming now
5 1 2^'
,
as
the cube
\'25x^,
and as
a;
the
number
5x,
we
.
get 637a;^
-5x = 8x, and
=-
/125
267\
11.
To
find
two cubes whose sum equals the sum

Sx.
of their sides.
Let the sides be 2x,
This gives
35a;'
5x.
This equation
gives no rational result.
Finding as in the preceding

it,
problem an equation to replace

1.1 and the cubes are
1
637a;'
1 Sx,
a;
==
125
512
,
^^
-^^^
12.
To
find
two cubes whose
difference equals the difference of
their sides.
Assume
as sides 2x, 3x.

to find
This gives Idx^ =
x.
Irrational;
and
we have
two cubes such that

Let them be
(z
their difference difference of sides
ratio of squares.
3;^
1)*,
z\
Therefore Sz' + Therefore z =

7.
= square = (1 -
2z)- say.
Now
assume as
sides
7a;,
Sx.
Therefore 169a;* =
a;,
and .'c=t^.
1
Therefore the two cubes

13.
less
(i^>
a
of the greater
To
find
two numbers such that the cube +
+ the
the cube of the less + the greater.
Assume
2a;,
3a;.
Therefore
27a;'
2a;
Sa;'
3a;.
Therefore
19.x'
= a;, which
gives an irrational result.

7a;, 8a;,
Hence,
as in 12th problem,
we must assume
7
v:^
,
and the numbers are as there

1 4.
^g
To
find
difference increased
two numbers such that by 1 gives a square.
either, or their
sum, or their
Take unity from any square say, 9a;" + 6.r.
for the first
number
let it be,
ARITHMETICS.
BOOK
IV.
19:^
But the second + 1 =a square.

factors of
9j;*
Therefore wc must Cnd a squar.-
such that the square found + 9x* + 6x = a square.
Taku
6.r,
nz, (9x+6,
x).
Square of half dif

+
ference
-16xf +
24a;
9.
Therefore, if
we put
the second
number
IG.c"
24.C
8,
threo
conditions are satisfied, and the remaining condition gives
+ 1 = square. + 1 Sx + 9 = square = (3 Therefore x = 18, and (3024, 5624) is a solution.

difference
7a;*
Hence
3x-)-
say.
15.
To
find three square
numbers such that
their
sum
equals
the
sum
of their differences.
8umo{diSerences=A-B+B-C+A-C = 2{A-C) = A+B+C,

by the question.
Let
least (C)
1,
greatest
three
squares
2x^
= a;' + 2.x- + 1. Therefore sum of the + ix = x^ + 2a; + 2 + the middle one.

(JB)
Therefore the middle one

square,
= a;' +
a;
2a;
2.
This
is
(x
4)" say.
Therefore
= -
and the squares are (s^,

16.
~nr
'^''
(196, 121, 25).
To find
Let
(fii-st
three
is
plied by the third
numbers such a given number.

.
that the
sum of any two
multi-
(third
+ second) third = 35, (second + third) first = + first) second = 32, and let the third = x.
.
27,
and
3.3
Therefore
first
194
17.
the
To
fiiid three
numbers whose sum
is
a square, and such
th<(t
sum 0/ the
square of each
and
the succeeding
4a;.
number
is
a square.
Let the middle number be

product
square.
is ix,
Therefore I must find what
square + ^x gives a square.

say
2ic
Take two numbers whose

2.
and
Therefore
{x-\y
is
the
Thus the first number = c- 1. Again 16x-* + third = square. Therefore third = a square - 1 6a;* = (4a; + VfYQtx?
say,
8a;+
Now
the three together = square, therefore 13a;=square=1697/say.
Therefore
x=\ 3^.
=
square.
Hence
the
numbers are
ISy^'-l, 52/,
Lastly, (third)*
104/ +1.
or
first
Therefore
10816/ + 221/ = a square
10816/ + 221= a
square
,
= (104y/ +1)
157300
say.
220 Therefore y = -".
55
/36621
317304\
18.
To
find three
numbers whose sum
is
a square, and such that
the difference of the square of any one and the succeeding
number
is
a square.
The
solution
is
exactly similar to the
last,
the numbers being
in this case
equation
is
The resulting 13/ +1, 52/, 104/ -1. 10816/ - 221 = square = (104^ - 1)-,
whence
,
2/
=-^^-^,
/170989
640692
'
^^^
19.
(T08I6-' T0816
1270568\ 10816 ;
^^
" ^^^"*^'^-
To find two numbers such

Let the
first
that the cube
of
the first
thr
second - a cube, the square of the second
the first
=a
= x.
square.
be
x,
the second
8)* say,
8-a;'',
therefore a;''-16.r''+64 + a' =

32a;^
a square
= (x* +
whence
is
This gives an
32 = 4. 8. we must put in our assumptions 4 64 insteail. Then the second number is 64 -a;^, and we get, as an
irrational result since
32
not a square.
Now
.
Therefore
equation for
256a;
x,
Therefore x =
1
lb
and
tlu.
numbers are jg, ^^gg
262143
.
ARITHMETICS.
20.
UOOK
IV.
10.",
To jlud
three
numbers
imfffinite/i/^ s?/<7(
(/uU the ]>ro<liict /
ani/ two increased by
1 is
a square.
first
Let the product of

condition
and second be x* + 2x, whence oni second = x, first = x + 2. Now th product of second and third + 1 =a square let this prois satisfied, if
;
duct be Ox* +
a square.
6a;,
so that third
first
number =^x +
i.e.
G.
Also
lh(?
^
product of third and
= square,
9x* + 24j; + 13
tfie
Nov.\ if 13 ivere a square,
and
coefficient
of
v}ere 6 times the side
of
this square, the
problem icoubl
be solved indefinitelij as required.
Now
13 comes from 6.2 + 2.1.

Therefore
it
1,
the 6 from 2
3,
and the
.
from
that four times
we want a number to replace 3 1 such + 1 = a square therefore we need only

;
take two numbers whose difierence [and 4.
is
1,
say
and
2.1+ (2
1)-
we put product of first x+2, pi'oduct [Then third = ix + 4.
= square]. Then, beginning again, first and second = x-* + 2a-, second x, of second and third = 4x* + 4.r, and
first x
third
= 4- + 1 2x +
0.
]
And
21.
(x
2, X,
4x +
4) is a solution.
sicch that
To find four numbers

1,
the
product of ani/ two,
ina'eased by
becomes a square.
that the product of
2,
Assume
but
first
and second = a;* +
'2x, fii-st
= x,
second = x +
(4a;
and similarly third = 4x + 4, fourth =9a:+ G, + 4)(9a; + 6) + 1 = square = 36a;- + 60x + 2;3. and fourth, 1 3 = square =
(O.v-
Also
for second
9x-'
+ 24x +
lb
24..-
6), say.
Therefore x
= -r-^.
now
i
All the conditions are
satisfied*,
^ /J^ the solution bein^ ^t, ^

22.
33 68 t^ V16' 16'
>
105\
>
>
-i
if.
Find three
the difference
numbers which are proportional and such of any two is a square.

a;
that
Assume
to be the least,
if
x + 4 the midiUe, x +
3 the greatoist.
indefi-
therefore
13 were a square we shoidd have an
nite solution satisfying three of the conditions.

1
We muHt
+ 9. ^hidi
i
I.e. in
general expressions.
1
Product of second and third +
= (a: +
2) (ix
4)
i-c'
l'^-^
a square.
1.12
196
therefore replace 13
squares.
l)y a squai-e
wliich
is tlie
sura of two
Thus
if
\vc
satisfied,
assume x, x + 9, x+ 25, three conditions are and the fourth gives x (x + 25) = {x + 9)", there-;^
I
fore
. I
x=
[j
i
,81 /i IT
144
, '
256\ ZDt)\
.
'
r,7')
IS
a solution.
^.
To find three numhers such 23. and any one of them is a square.
Let the product be
x'
that the
sum of their solid content^

number
.
2x,
and the
first
1,
the second
ix + 9
therefore the third
C*+
:,
2x -^
This cannot be
:
divided out generally unless x^: 4:X=2x 9 or
a;"
2.^'=4a;
9,
and
it
could be done
(jx
if
4 were half of
9.
Now
ix comes from
to find a
2x,
and
from
3^,
therefore
we have
number
to replace 3 such that
2i-2 = -^,
therefore
m^ = 4w - 4 or
m = 2.
We
put therefore for the second number 2x + 4, and the third Therefore also [third condition] then becomes Ix.
x^
+ 2x + \x - square = ix^
1\\
.
say,
whence
x=
5
,
(. 34
solution.
24.
content
To find three numbers such that and any one of them is a square.
Fii'st x, solid
tJie
difference
of their solid
content x^.+ x; therefore the product of second

1
;
and third = 03 +
let the
second
Therefore the two remaining conditions give

a
both squares [Double equation.]

aay
therefore
Difference
= cc =
-
)
2a;,
(.t
+ :^)' = vX-*+k-1, x8
..(^;,i,
I.e.
is
a .solution.
the continued product of
all three.
Observe the solution of a mixed quadratic.
X-
198
Hence we assume
for the
numbers
8
9
5'^''
3^'
3^' by
15.
or (25x, 27a;, -iOx), multiplying throughout
Therefore the
sum = d2x=
4,
and
'k
= oo
and
-^
are the three parts required.

o
[N.B.
The condition ^
is
<m+l
is
ignored in the work,
and
27
incidentally satisfied.]
to either gives a
To
find
two numbers whose product added

first
cube.
Suppose the
Second
also 8a;'
a;^
1, (so
8a;
number equals a cube number that 8a;^ - 8a; + 8a; = cube); + a;^ - 1 must be a cube = (2a; 1)^
1 2>x*
of
a;'s,
say
8a;.
say.
Therefore
4,x-,
x = yoi 1 o
i
14
^"^
28.
(13-' res)
find
^ soi^^ti^"difference
To
two numbers such that the

is
between the
product and either
a cube.
8a;,
Let the
first
be
the second
a;^
(since 8a;'+8a;
8a;= cube)
must be a cube, which is "impossible " [for to get rid of the third power and the absolute term we can only put this equal to (2a;- 1)^ which gives an " irrational " result]. Assume then the first = 8a; + 1, the second = a;* (since 8a;^ + a;^ - x^ = cube).
also
8if^
8a;
- a;* -
Therefore
Therefore
8a;'
a;"
8.r
= a cube = {2x - If
14
,
say.
x = y^
125
^
,
wi the nunilx'rs are and

29.
cube.
196
.
Id
169
=t
To find two numbers such

Let the
first
that their product
their
sum - a
cube be G4, the second
8.
Therefore twice the
sum
of the
numbers = 64 - 8 =
28,
56,
and the sum of the
numbers =
but
thi-ii-
product + their
sum =
64.
Therefore their product - 36.
ARITHMETICS.
Therefore
BOOK
IV.
199
two numbers whose sum - 28, and whose product = 36. Assuming 14 +a;, 14 -x for these numbers, 196 -x':::^ 36 and x* = 160, and if 160 were a
to tind
we have
a square
we
could solve
it
rationally.
Now
=
160
arises
from
4''
-36, and
14=
J. 28
--.56
4
2
T (diflference
of cubes) to find
36 = ^ sum of cubes.
sucli that
Therefore
(
we have
two cubes
of their difiereuce )
^^
their
s
sum = a
1
1
square.
Let the sides of these cubes be

1
s +
Therefore - of their difference
3
~'
r>
;j> '^^^^
the square of this
=r
Hence
(
9,3,1 ^2^'^4)
differer cc
.^
sum =
t ~
='
;>
+ a~~) v"^
"*"
"')
Therefore
dz'
Gz'
4^'
- 1 2s = a square =
(3;:'
6c) say,
whence
32s^
36s*,
and
9
o
Therefore sides of cubes are
200
Hence
,
500 x = ^512
/1728
""'"^
V^12
30.
'
728\ 512 j
''
^ '"^"*'''their
To
find
two
numbers
such
that
product
their
sum =
a cube [same problem as the foregoing].
Every square divided into two parts, one of tohich is its makes the 2)roduct of these ])arts + their sum a cube. [i.e. x(x^ - x) + x' x + x= a cube.]
Let the square be x^ ; the parts are x, x^ and fi-om the second part of the condition
x^
x,
side,
-x^ -X- =
x^
2x^
a cube = [7,] say.
Therefore
5 *^
= 2a;'', x = -^
<
and
/16
(
144\
,
-^
-jq
IS
a solution.
31. 7'o find four square numbers such that their of their sides - a yiven number.
sum +
the su?n
Given number
Therefore the
1 2.
Now
x*
+ a; + j = a
square.
sum
of four squares
+ the sum
and
of their sides
13.
Thus we have
to divide 13 into 4 squares,
if
from
eacli of
their sides
we
subtract ^
we
shall
have the sides
of
the
required squares.
Now
and the
10 l3
. n = 44-9 =
--f25+-25+05'
G4
36
144
81
sides of the required squares are
11
^
lO'
19
10'
32.
10'
13 10"
To
find four squares
such that their
sum
ininus the
sum
of
their sides equals a given
number.
Given number
5
4,
Then
similarly
9
^-^
side of first
- -j +
...
5.
-,.,..,-. and is divided into
IG
,
G4
,
36
.
^rz
2y
25
25
-
^^
?,2;)
>
and the sides of the squares arc
13
( .
21
'
17^
'
10
10
lOy
ARITHMETICS.
33.
be
BOOK
IV.
201
if given
To divide unity into two parts snch

to each,
that,
numbers
be
added
the j)roduct
of
the resulting expressions
may
square.
Let
3,
5 be the
(a;
numbers
3) (6
to be added,
aud
a;'
let
the parts be
-xj
say.
Therefore
a;)
= 18 + 3x
- a square =
l.c*
Hence 18 +
3a;
= 5a;*; but
5 comes from a S([uare+1,
and
the roots cannot be rational unless

(this
square
+l)18 +
[7jj
=a
square.
Put
or
(m-
+l)18 + f^j =a
square,
(8ni
72/?r
+ 81 = a square =
i
9)* say.
Therefore
1 8.
Hence we must put (x + 3) (6 - a;) = 18 +

Therefore
Therefore
325x''
3a;
3a; - a;' - 18 = 0.
324a;^
78
sohition.
31.
[Another solution of
the foregoing.]
Suppose the
first
a;
a;
(9
9a;,
- 3, the second i -x; - a;) = square = 4a;* say,

9
therefore
and 9
5a;-
whence a;=p, but I cannot

4.
take 2
from
and X must be > 3 <

a;
Now
the value of
a;
comes from
9
r
1
.
Therefore, since
2.
a square +
>
3,
this S(piare
<
3,
therefore the square <
It is
also
>
5
-.
.
Therefore I mustfind a square between
-and
2,
or
^^
and
And
-TT-r-
or
64
will satisfy the conditions. ^ 16
Put now
x(9-x)-
j^,
.c.
202
Therefore
U4 IT
/21 21
20^ 20\
, .
1 .
and
35.
.,-
IS
a solution,
^.
To divide a given number
into three j)arts such that the pro-
duct of the first
and
second, with the third
added or subtracted,
may
be
a square.
Given number
less
G,
tlie 2,
third part x, the second
any niimher
than
G,
say
Therefore the
first
x.
it
Hence
of
2x'
a; =
a square. \^Doid)le-equation.^
And
cannot
be solved by
our method since the ratio of

ratio of squares.
tlie coefficients
X is not a number y to
Therefore
we must
find a
replace 2, such that

squai-e
?/ + 1 r = a 2/-1
= 4
,
say.
Therefore
2/
-iy
5 o
4,
and y =
5
q
Put now the second part = - therefore the

,
first
13
~ x. o
G5
Therefore
-^
-^x^x^^s. square.
Thus
or ^
are both squares,
~
i^
2G0-24:x)
.^l-
are both squares
difference
=195 = 15.
a;
13.
Hence
(^^^
~ Y = 65 - 24a;,
/5
5
,
and
24a;
64,
=|
8\
,
Therefore the parts arc
^j
To find two numbers such that the first with a ce^-tain fraction 36. of the second is to the remainder of the second, and the second with the same fraction of the first is to the remainder of the first, each in given
ratios.
Let the first with the fraction of the second = 3 times the remainder of the second, and the second with the same fraction of tlie first = 5 times the remainder of the first. Let the second = x +
be
1.
1,
and
let
the part of
it
received by the
first
Therefore the
first
3.c
[for 3.f
3.c].
. .
ARITHMETICS.
Also
fii-st
1U)0K
IV.
203
tlie
+ second -
ix, uiul first
+ second = sum of
numbers
after interchange, therefore
JÎ$^^S^l_
remainder of
tiret
^q
Therefore the remainder of the first

receives from the first 3.0
= ^x, and
hence the second
- ^ x- = r a; o o
Hence
l^^^^,
6x-\
x+\
r, tlierefore r,x^
tx~\ = 3.c 3
and x = ^
Therefore the
first
number =
8
-;; ,
and the second =
-''t
12
:
and
is
<
rr-
of the second.
Multiply by 7 and the numbers are
8,
12; and the fraction

3,
is
^
and
but 8
is
not divisible by 12, so multijily by
(24, 36) is a solution.
To find two numbers 37. sum = a given number.

Given number
Therefore
3a;
8.
indefinitely such their product + their
Assume
3
the
first
to be x, the second 3,
8.
+ a; +
= given number =
Therefore x-'j, and the numbers are
Now
4
1
8 3
arises
from
1
-.
3+1
1
!r
Therefore
1
1
we may put mx + n ^
"^
for
the second number, and
tiie
nrst
z'
=8~
("**-'
'"
)
mx + n+l
r-
38.
To
find three
numbers such that
(the product
+ the sum) of
any two equals a given number.

Condition.
Each number must be

first
1 less
than some
squai-o.
Let product + sum of
and second =
8,
of second and tbinl
Thi-n
15, of third
and
first
24.
second +
= the
first: let
the second
= x-
1.
Therefore ^-"^-
first
--1.
X
Similarly third
-1.
'-
204
Therefore
(^^
V^ - l) + ^ = -.
.
= 24, and ^.^ -
24,
12
o
,
therefore
,
aj
and
39.
/33
I
7 ^
68\
, 1
IS
, a solution,
^.
To
find
exceeds their
sum by
first
two numbei-s indefinitely such that a given number.
their product
Let the
number be
x,
the second
3
3.
Therefore product
- sum =
Thus the
3.V - a; -
3 = 2a; -
=8
(say).
Therefore x
= -.
first
tlie
second
=
+
1
3.
But
the
=
=
x+
d
.
:r
Hence, putting the second =

40.
a;
first
To
find three
of
any two
exceeds their
sum by a given number.

1 less
Condition.
Each of the given numbers must be some square. Let them be 8, 15, 24.
Therefore
first
than
number =
9 -
second -
:;
=-
=
a;
say.
Therefore
the
first
=
+
X
1
the second
= a; +
and the third =
IG + X
Therefore
('^
V^ + l) - ^ Ij', 5
.
24.
Orl4i-ll24,
X-
md
/57
(
17
(l2'
q-s
is a ,,.,,_) 5'12;^^^
9Z\
solution.
41. To find two numbers sum a given ratio.
indefinitely
whose product has
to their
Let the ratio be 3

Therefore 5x
li
the
first
number
15
.
x,
the second
5.
=3
,
(5
+ x), and x =
r,ut -^
r~~:^
and, putting x for
5,
the indefinite solution
is: first
Xo
-^_
second =x.
ARITUMETICS.
42.
BOOK
for
IV.
205
To
_
find three
numbers such that
any two their product
bears to
theii-
sum
a given ratio.
first
Let
and second multiplied 5 = nrst + st^cond
6,
and
let
the other ratios be
4 and
4a;
5,
the second
number
.r.
Therefore
first
X3
third
~
Also
x-i'
3x
-.
x-Z
Therefore x
,
3x 4a; \ . ix ^ , 5+ r) or ,12xj = 5 { x -/ a;\a;-3 \a; o a;-4 4/ 120

-^,
,
35.0-'
20.r.
/360
120
""n^'
43.
to the
23'
three
480\ 28;"''^'''"^^'^"".
To find
numbers such
a given
ratio.
that the
product of any two hs
sum of the
three
Let the ratios be
3, 4, 5.
First seek three
numbers such that
the product of any two has to an arbitrary the given ratio.
number
(say 5)
Of
these, let the product of the first
and the second =15.

Therefore
if
x = the second, the
first
15
X
20.
But
the second multiplied by the third
Therefore the third -
20
and
20 15
"^^^
= 25.
is
or
Therefore
25.v'=20.15.
.
And,
if
20 15 were a square, what
required would be done.

is
Now
15 = 3.5 and 20
3
;
5,
and 15
made up
of the ratio
and the arhilrary number
5.
Therefore
we must
find a
number m such
12r
that
= ratio of
m=
15.
a square to a square.
Thus
2/?r
5i
= GOm'
- square
900/', say.
Tliereforo
Let then the sum of the three =15, and the product of the first and sccon<l =
first
15, therefore
tli
X
tlio
Simihirlv
third
GO X
,
;
45. GO
_. ^
<
therefore
>
and x ^
(.
G.
206
DIOPUANTOS OF ALEXANDRIA.
Therefore the
first
number =-
45
,
the third
10,
and the sum
of the three
= 23| =
47
.
Now, if
this loere 15,
the j)rohlevi loould he solved.
Put therefore 15a; for the sum of the numbers l^x, Qx, \0x.
Therefore
tlirce,
and
for the
2^x =
15a;-,
47 and x=---,
whence
/705
282
470\
is
fgQ-,3Q,3QJ
three
a sohition.
44.
To find
numbers such
that the product of their

their sn7n
sum and
a
the first is
a triangular number, that of

that of their su7h
and
the secoml
square,
and
and
the third
cube.
Let the sum be
x',
and the
first ,
the second
-,
the third
.r
which will
1
satisfy the three conditions.
But the sum =3 =

X
Therefore
loe
.r*
or 18
= x\
must
rejilace
IS by a fourth iiower.
But 18 = sum
of a triangular number, a square and a cube;
let the fourth power be x^, which must be made up in the same way, and let the square be x* -1o? + 1. Therefore the triangular number + the cube = 2a;* 1; let the cube But 8 be 8, therefore the triangular number = 2a;^ - 9. limes a triangular number + 1 = a square.
Therefore
IG.x'^ - 71 = a square = (4a;- 1)^ say; therefore x = 9, and the triangular number = 153, the square =6400 and the cube = 8.
Assume
tlien as the first
number -^-,
x'
'
as the second
a'
as the third -3
Therefore
- =
a;
a;*
and x =
9.
,,,,
/153
6400
8\
^.
ARITHMETICS.
45.
BOOK
IV.
207
and
the
To find three numbers such that the dijj'crence of the greatest middle has to tlie difference of the middle and the least a given
also the sinn of
3.
ratio,
and
any pair
is
a square.
square, let
Ratio
Since middle
;
number + lea.st = a
let it
them =
l.
Therefore middle > 2
be x +
2,
so that least
= 2 - x.
6a-,
Therefore the interval of the greatest and the middle =
whence the greatest = Tx +

Therefore
'
2.
>
are both squares [Donble equation]
take
two numbers Avhose product =

ceed by the rule.
Therefore
2x,
say - and
112,
biit
4,
and
pro-
I cannot take \\2 from 2; therefore x must be found to be < 2, so that 6.f+4<lG.
to be three squai-es 8a;
x=
Thus there are

middle and
Therefore
difference of greatest
least.
+ 4, Gx + 4, 4 ami and middle = ^ of difference between

;
we must
find three squares having this proi)erty,
such that the least
= 4 and
s
the middle one
<
1 6.
Let side of middle one be
+
2
2,
wlience the gi'eatest
is
equal to
+ 42 + _32^
.^
+ 4. +
16, 4 4^-+ -3-c--.4.

,
Therefore this
is
a square, or 3^* +
1 2s;
+ 9 = a square; but the

1 6,
middle of the required squares <
therefore z <'2.
(jmz
Put now
3i' +
2s
Therefore z
=
4.5
;
9
"
= {mz - 3) = mV ,
9.
m o
which must be <

6,
2.
Hence 6m + 12 < 2m- and 18 2 +

.
or 2m
> 6m +
18,
3-
therefore
we may put in-'- +

- bz)'.
^.
Thus we have
3;:-
+ 12^ + 9 =
(3
Hence
yi
-'^'i^l
the side of the middle square
--
...
aiil
the square
itselr
Turning
to the original problem,
wo
i>ut
y^j'^
^'-"
Therefore x
' ,
which
is
<
2.
<26
208
Hence
the greatest of the required
numbers
= 7x +
--
11007
726
'
and the second of them = as + 2 =

and the
46.
thii'd
2817
,
lab
87 = 2-x = ^^z
the f/reatcst
To find three numbers such that the and the middle numbers has to
a given
ratio,
difference
the difference
of the squares of of the middle
and
the least
and
the
sums of
all 2}airs are severally
squares.
Ratio
3.
greatest
Let greatest + middle = the square 1 (Sx^. Therefore Hence middle = Bx* - 2, is > 8a;^, say 8a;" + 2,
and greatest + middle > greatest + least, therefore greatest + least < 1 6a;* > Sx^ = 9a;-, say; therefore the least
number = a; - 2.
Now
Now
difference of squares of greatest

difference of middle
and middle =
but 64 ^ 21.
find a
.
64a;*,
and
and
2,
least
7a;",
64 comes from 32
such that
so that I
must
.
number
32m =
that
,
21.
Therefore
gi'eatest
8a;
21
Assume now
the
of
the
,
numbers
sought
8a;*
+ -^ =
21
the middle =
,21 -
the least
a;
21
[Therefore difference of squares of greatest and middle
21a;*
3.
7a;*.]
The only condition

8a;*
left is
21
p+
a;*
21
-gT,
a square
9.1;
= a square =
597 x = yr:^ 5/6
.
{S.r
6)" say.
r,.,
Therefore
"^'"^^
2633544 (331776' 331776

/3069000
138681\
'
^.
331776;^^''^
^^^^^^'^"-
AIUTILMETICS.
BOOK
V.
BOOK
To find three numbers 1. number by a square.
Given number
square [by
the third
12.
ii.
V.
in c.
p.
such that each exceeds a given
11],
Find a square which exceeds 12 by a say 42^. Let the first number be 42^,
x^,
so that the middle one

12")
6i.r.
a;2_
Therefore .
,_> are both squai-es
their diflference
therefore as usual
we
find the value of x, viz.
^^
(^21,^^,
A^,
2346 i
130321\
-10816
j-^
.
solution.
2. To find three numbers in g. same given number equals a square.
p.
such that each together
icith the
Given number
20.
square, say 36, so that IG
Take a square whicli exceeds 20 by a + 20 - 3G = a square.

16, the other x*, so that the
Put then one of the extremes

middle term = \x.
Therefore
+ 20 ^^> are both squares \x + 20j

"i
their difference
y?
-ix^x{x4a;
4),
whence we have
result,
+ 20 =
4,
which gives an irrational
but the 4^1(16), and we should have in i)lace of 4 some number > 20. Therefore to replace 16 we must find some square > 4 20, and such that with the addition of
.
20
it
becomes a square.
therefore,
Now 81>80;
{m +
9)-, (4
.i, "
putting for the
nijuired square
m=
H.D.
+ 20 = square -{m-U)' .siiy. Therefore OOj. and the square = (9A)'' "
9)'
1*
, ,
210
Assuming now
9â;+20j
^^
>
for
the
numbers 90^, O^x,

:
a?,
we
have,
are both squares
and the difference =a;(a;-9i),
whence we derive
x=
-r-
152
, '
^^
3.
/nm
V
^^'
389.1
1681 \
'
T52
23I04J
^^
'^^^^^"^-
Givoi one numhei;

the
them or
to find three others such that any one of product of any two, when added to the given number, pro-
duces a square.
Given number
the two
5.
Porism.
pi'oduct together with the
numbers
{x
arise
two numbers each and their same number make squares, from two consecutive squares.
If of
Assume then a;^+6cc +

Therefore
+ 3)-, {x + 4)-, and put for the first number 4, and for the second a; + 8x+ll, and let the third equal twice their sum minus 1, or ix^ + 28a; + 29.
4a;'
28a;
+ 34 = a square = (2x a;
6)^ say.
Hence
and
4.
^r^;
26
/2861
I
7645
,
20336\
.
-;r=-;r
-sv^/T
V676
'
676
'
Wr,,^
IS
a solution.
,.
676 /
the product of any two exceed the given
Given one number, to find three others such that each, and number by some square.
a;* a;*
Given number 6. Take two consecutive squares x", add 6 to each, and let the first number =
second number
the
+ 2a; + 1, + 6, the
+
25.
= a;^ +
2a;
7,
the third being equal to twice

1,
sum
of first
and second mhiics

4a;
or
4a;^
4a;
Therefore third minus 6 =4a;' +

Therefore
a;
+ 19 = square =(2a; -6)* say.
17
:
*^^
22660\ /4993 6729 (-784' T84' -78r)-^-'^<^l"*^^^.
[Observe in this problem the assumption of the Porism numbered

(1)
above
5.
(pp. 122, 123).]
To find
Porism.
three sqiiares such thai the procbict of
any
tivo,
added
to the
sum of those
two, or to the remaining one, gives
a square.
If any
two consecutive squares be taken, and a third

their
number which exceeds twice
sum by
2, tliese
three
ARITHMETICS.
BOOK
V.
211
numbers
recpiired
numbers have the property

the problem.
of the
by
Assume
as the
first
a;^
'2a;
and as the second
x"
+ 4x +
4.
Therefore the third
Ax^
1 2x-
1 2.
Hence
c
x-
3.v
+ 3 = a square -{x/25
(
'df say,
and
a;
= ^
m iherefore
C.
>
64 'K
196\
>
~q~
^^
'^
solution.
To
find three
numbers such that each exceeds
by a square,
and the product

one
of
any two minus both, or minus the remaining
a square.
Add
2 to x^
all
2,
numbers found as in 5th problem. Let the first be the second x^ +'2x+ 3, the third îf + -ix + 6, and
the conditions are satisfied, except
4x^
4a;
+ 6 - 2 = a square = 4
(a;
2)* say.
Therefore
x=
/59
(,25'
3
-^
o
.
^^^
7.
114
246\
25
25'
''
^'
'^"^^""-
To
find
two numbers such that the sum of

is
their product
and
the squares of both

First
a square.
[^Lemma
to the following j)roblem.^

1.
number
a;'
x,
second any number {m), say
Hence
a;
= a square = {x
1]
is
2)- say,
and
-c
3
r
.
Therefore
a sokitiou, or
(3, 5).
8.
To find
three right-angled triangles
'
whose areas are equal.
First find
their product
+ sum
of their
squares
a square,
[15
i.e.
3, 5, as in
the preceding problem
3'
5^'=
7'].
Now
form three right-angled triangles from

(7, 3),
i,e.
(7,
5),
(7,
3 +
5),
respectively,
(7
the triangles
3',
+ 3S 7*-
2.7.3),
Ax
<tll
Ac.
I.e.
rational right-angled triangles.
the triangles ichich Diophantos
treats of are of this kind,
I shall
sometime.'^ use
mimphj the tcord "triannU" to
represent "rational right-angled triangle," for the purposes of brevity,
where
the latter expression
is
of very frequent occurrence.
14-2
212
and we have the triangles
(40,
42, 58), (24, 70, 74), (15, 112, 113)
and the area of each = 840. [7^ - 3=) 7 3 - (7' - 5^) 7 5 =

.
(8=
7')
7].
['For
if
ah + 0?-^ 1)^=0%
a')
(c-
ca
{c'
since each
9.
- 6=) cb = {{a + bf - c'] = abc (a + 6)].
(a
b)
c,
To
find three
numbers such that the square of any one

square.
=t
the
sum
of the three
= a
Since, in a right-angled triangle, (hypotenuse)^
of sides = a square, we
twice product make the three numbers hypotenuses,

area.
i.e.
and the sum of the three four times the

as in the preceding problem,
(40, 42, 58),
(24,
Therefore I must find three triangles having the same area,
70, 74),
(15, 112, 113).
Therefore, putting for the
245a;
numbers 5 803, 74a;, 113C, their sum = four times the area of any one of the triangles
= 33G0a;ânda; = Qg.
Therefore
10.
[-^
W WJ
it is
^'
^ '^^^^^"-
Given three squares,
possible to find three
numbers
such that the products of the three pairs are respectively equal to
those squares.
Squares
4, 9, IG.
One number
x,
4 the second a;
9
,
the third -
and
1
-^=16, and
x^
'
a;
li. ^
the triangles formed from (n m),

therefore n (m^ 11^)
Ncsselmann suggests that Diophantos discovered this as follows. (q in), (r m) have their areas equal,
Let
=q
{vi^
q'')
(r"
//(-),
therefore m-n
Jt-'
m-q
q^,
m^=Again, given
[q
n-q
i =,r-
+ nq + q^.
m
q
?i).
to find r;
q'^)
[m"-
= r(r- - m"),
and
n^
in- -q''
n- + nq
from above, therefore

or
q (nq
{n'^
+ nq) = r (;- -
- nq - q"),
+ nr) + q'^(n + r) = r{r^-}i-).

qn + q- = r^ {q
Dividing by
therefore
+ n,
rn,
q-,
+ r)n = r-r=q
and
+ n.
ARITHMETICS.
Therefore the niuiibers are
BOOK
V.
213
(l.l,
, 6).
We
observe that
4
'C
= -, where
= product
of
2,
3,
and
= side
rule.
of
1 G.
Hence
Take the product
of the sides, 2, 3, divide by tlio
side of the third square,

result. 11.
and divide
4,
9 again by the
To
find three
the
sum
of the three
numbers such = a square.
that
tlie
product of any two
As
in 9th problem, find three riglit-anglcd triangles having
equal areas
the squares of the hypotenuses are 3364,
5476, 127G9.
Now
find as in 10th
problem three num-
bers, the products of paii-s of
which equal these squares, which we take because each (4. area) or 3360 = a square;
the three numbers then are
4292
"113
'^'
3277
37
""'
4181
^'
It only remains that the
sum =
3360a;".
f Therefore
32824806 ._. , -^t^t-^-t?^ x- 3360x". 121249

32824806 407396640'
^, , Therefore
whence the numbers are known.

12.
To divide unity
he
into two parts such
tJvat
if the same given
number
added
to eitlier
part the result will be a square.

[the text of
Condition.
this condition is discussed
The added number must not be odd on p. 129 and note.]

6.
6. 1,
Given number
Therefore 13 must be divided into two
two squares so that each > squares whose difference <
Thus
if
I divide
13 into
this condition is satistied.
Take -^ =
will
or,
13
6|,
and I wish
it
to
add to 6i a small fraction which
make
a square,
4,
multiplying by
26x*
wish to make ;, + 2G a square, or

Siiy,
=a
square = {5x+\ )'
whence
x=
10.
214
Therefore to
make 2G
into a square I
must add
y^,
or to
make 6^
into a square I
1
must add
/51\'
400^
^^^
Tlierefore
13
4o-o-'-2=Uo;I must divide

1
3 into two squares such
tluit
their sides
Tnay be as nearly as possible equal

dywyrj,
above described, pp. 117

3^
^ 120.]
to
first
51
[TrapicronjTos
Now
13
3
= 2^ +
Therefore I seek two numbers such that

first
minus the
51
or
the
=
11
and 2 plus
the second
I
51
so that the second
write
accordingly
(11a +2), (3
9a;)
for
the
required
squares
substituting x for
Therefore the
sum =
5
,
202a;-
lO-i;
+ 13 =
13.
Hence
x = y^
and the
,^,
sides are y^.
.,
257
'
258
Tni
and, subtracting 6 from the squares of each,

pai-ts of
we
find as the
unity
/
4843
'
^35810201,
V10201
13.
To divide unity
into two jyarts such that, if
we add given
numbers
to each, the results
are both squares.

2, G,
Let the numbers be

figure.
and
let
them be represented
in the
Suppose
so chosen
DA = 2, AB = l, BE=G, G a point in Now that DG, GE may both be squares.
Tlierefore
I have
lies
to divide
9 into
3.
tioo
squares such that one of
them Let the
between 2
and
be
hitter square
x^.
3. tlie
Therefore the second square
= 9 - a;',
Take two
wliere
x-"
> 2< >

2,
squares, one
other <
3,
[the former square
ARITHMETICS.
being the smaller], say ^
BOOK
,
V.
21')
-^^
Therefore,
if
we can
make
x" lie
between
these,
what
wtis required is
done
We must
have
^^^,<\l
17
Hence, in making 9 - x^ a square, we must find

19
67)1
^?Tl
17
19
>12"I2Thus 72w>17m'' +
'^
17,
is :}
and
36*-
17. 17
= 1007
is
-j;
which'
is
Sl,
hence
x=
Similarly ?
tt;
Let
m = 3i
Therefore 9 -x' =
h - '-x\
and
TT Hence
53
1371\
' "
=Ti
ar
7056 ^ ^^^^
/1438 , ^ and the segments of 1 are

,^, (^^gog
into three pm-ts such that, if
severally/, the results
2809J
the
14.
To divide unity
to the three
we add
same
number
parts
are all squares.
Comlition.
Given number must not be 2
[Condition remarked
upon above, pp. 130, 131.] Given number 3. Thus 10

such that each
is
to be divided into three squares
>
3.
Take ^ of
10, or 3^,
and
find
x so that ^^7,+ 3J may be a square,
or 30x
= a square = {6x
a;
+\f
say.
Therefore
1
2,
s^^''^^"^-
121
'*'
and
Therefore
36
^^ " "36" " ^
we have
to divide 10 into three squares each near to
00
I.e.
[7rapio-OT7;T09 aywyr;'].
the integral part of the root
is
^31.
The
limits taken arc
.1
fortiori
limits as explained on p. 93, n. 3
and
4.
Strictly speaking,
is
wc could only
say,
taking integral limits, that x/Iu07<32, but this limit

secure a correct result in the work which follows.
not narrow enough to
21
Now
10 =
3^
1'
= the sum
3
9
of the three squares 9,
^,
16
Comparing the
90, 18,
sides 3, -, p
with -^, or (multiplying by 30)
11
24 with 55, we must make each side approach 55.
Put
therefore for the sides
3-35CC, 31a; + g, S7x+-^

[35
= 90-55, 31 = 55-24, 37 = 55-18],

the
we have
sum of the squares = 35550;^- 116rK+ 10 =

x = ^rv^3555
,
10.
Therefore
and
this solves the problem.

if
To divide unity into three parts such that, 15. numbers be added, each to one of the parts, tlie
squares.
three given
results are all
Given numbers
2, 3, 4.
Then
first
have to divide 10 into three

2,
squares such that the
>
the second
>
3,
the third
>
4.
Let us add - unity to each, and

is
find three squares

2,
whose sum
10,
the
first
lying between
2^,
the
and the third between 4, 4|. Divide 10 into two squares, one of which lies between 2 and
second between
3, 3i,
2^.
Then this square minus 1 will give one of the parts of unity. Next divide the other square into two, one lying between
3,
3J
this gives the second part,
and therefore the
third.
16.
To
divide a given
number
into three parts such that the
sums of all
pairs are squares.
Number 10. Then since the greatest + the middle jmrt = a square, &c., the sum of any pair is a square < 10, but There/ore 20 is to he twice the sum of the three = 20,
divided into
three squares
each of lohich < 10.

divide
Now
two
20=16 +
4.
Therefore
we must
16
into
and 10; we then have three squares each of which is < 10, and whose sum = 20, and by subtracting each of these squares from 10
squares, one of which lies between 6
we
get the parts required;

v.
[16 must be divided into the two squares by
13.]
ARITHMETICS.
17.
ROOK
V.
217
To divide a given number

is
into four parts such that the
sum
of any three
a square.
10.
Number
Then three times
the
sum =
the
sum
of four
squai'es.
Hence 30 must be divided into four squares, eacli of wliich < 10. If we use the method of Traîcro'-nj? and make each
near 7|, and then subtract each square found from 10, wc have the required i)arts.
But, observing that
30-1G + 9 + 4+1,
take
i,
and divide
17 into two squares each of which < 10 >

tract each of the four squares
7.
Then
sub-
from 10 and we have the
required parts.
18.
to the
To find
three
numbers
S2ich that, if
is
we add any one of them

G3x^.
cube of their sum, the result
cube.
26a;',
Let the sum be

fore it
x,
the numbers 7x^,
Hence,
for the
last condition, 9Ga;^
= x.
But 9G
is
not a square.
ThereG3.
must be
replaced.
Now
it
arises
from 7 + 2G +
1 less
Therefore I have to find three numbers, each
than a cube,
whose sum is a square. Let the sides of the cubes be wi+ 1, 2-m, 2, whence the numbers are m^ + 3'w' + 3m, 7- 12ni+ Gnr-m'', 7, aud the sum = ^m" - dm + 14 = a square = (3? - 4)-.
Therefore
7n
2
-r-.
15
and the numbers are

Therefore, putting the
1538
qq^t>
18577
^
'
qqtF
'
sum -
x,
and the numbers of the problem

'"'''*''
3375^' 3375
we
1
find
X=
15
54
therefore,
fec.
9.
t/ie
To find tloree numbers such

cube of the sum, the result
x,
t/uif,
if we subtract
cube.
x',
any one of them
from
is
Let the sum be

r Therefore
rr.
the numbex"8 -
"
x',
x'.
4877
^r^;-- x"
^x
/
;
|(
.io
4877
but
irz^TT-,
1728
^ 3 - the sum of three cubes.
218
Therefore we must find three cubes, each < 1, such that (3 -their sum) = a square =2,^ say. Tlierefore we liavetofind three
cuhes whose
sum
is
3 162 -=^,
or
we have
to divide
162
into three cubes.
But 162 = 125 + 64 -
27.
Now
(Porism) the difference of two cuhes can be transformed Having then found the three into the sum, of two cuhes.
cubes
we
start again,
and x = 1\x^,
so that
x = -^, which, with the three
cubes,
determines the result.

20.
tlieir
To find
three
numbers such
that,
if we subtract the cube of
sum from any

39 x^
one of them, the result

let
is
cube.
9a;^, 28a;^.
Sum =x, and
the numbers be 2x',
Therefore
three
= 1, and we must replace 39, which = sum of cubes + 3. Therefore we must find three cubes whose sum +
square.
Let their sides be m, 3 -m, and any number, say

Therefore
1.
9m^ + 31 ,
277/2-
= square = (3m ^.1

,
7)"
say,
so
that
m-
and
6 the sides of the cubes are =

,
..
9
,
1.
Starting again, let the
sum be
3
x,
and the numbers

250
3
341
854
Wb^'
so that
1445a;'
=^
125*' 125*'
25 ^''=289' ^
125,
"
17
thus the numbers are known.

21.
To
find three
numbers, whose sum
is
a square, such that the
cube of their sum added to any one of them gives a square.
Let the sum be

26a;*
x^,
the numbers
if
303',
Bx",
IS.'c".
Therefore
and,
26 were a fourth power, this would
give the result.
To
replace it
by a fourth power, wc must find three squares whose sum diminished by 3 = a fourth power, or thi-ee numbers such that each increased by 1 - a square, and Let these he the sum of the three - a fourth power.
'
ARITHMETICS.
ROOK
[sura
V.
219
;
m* -
2ni^,
m^ + 2m, m^ - 2m
3,
^ m*]
then
if
we put
anything, say
the numbers are
63,
15, 3.
Thus, putting for the

GSx",
a;
sum
x^,
and for the numbers

is
3j;',
15x',
and the problem
solved.
22.
that
tlie
To find three numbei-s whose sum equals a square, and such cube of the sum exceeds any one of them by a square.
[Incomplete in the text.]
23.
To
divide a given fraction into three parts, such that each
exceeds the cube of the
sum by a
.
square.
Given fraction
the
Therefore each =
the
three
of
+ a square.
three
Therefore
3
sum
of
= sum
squares +
Therefore
we have simply
to divide
into three squares.

13
24.
added
to
To find three squares such that any one of them gives a square.
tJieir
contimced product
Let the "solid content" = x", and we want three squares such that each increased by 1 gives a square. They can be got
from right-angled triangles by dividing the square of

one of the sides about the right angle by the square of Let the squares then be the other.
9
,
_25
16
'^'
144*' 225
14400
'*^-
Therefore the solid content =
x".
This =
x'.
Olo'iUU
^
120
Therefore
" oq
**
120
but
_g,
IS
not a square.
triangle.s
tlieir
Thus we must
if
find three right-angled
such
that,
6's
are
their
==
bases,
;/s
arc
p<'q)endicular8,
H/9^6,6, 6^
square, or assuming one tnangle arbitrarily

to
(3, 4, 5),
we have
make
or l2pj)J>J'j ^ square,
3,6,
220
a square. " This
is
easy" (Diophantos
(9, 40,
')
and the triangles
(3, 4, 5),
(8, 15, 17),
41),
satisfy the condition,
and
.1
03
= -^
25 /25
(
then are the squares .1
256
,
9\
,
-7-
-5,
Vr
To find three squares such 25. any one of them hy a square.

Let the " solid content " =
that their continued product exceeds
a;*,
and
let
the numbers be got fx'om
right-angled triangles, being namely
16 25^^' 169
_64
'^'
289^'
, a;
r Therefore
4.5.8
first side
r^
1,
and the
ought to be a square.
As
before, find three triangles,
assuming one
[letters
(3, 4, 5)
such that
hjiji^2^^pj>^=
Q.
square^,
denoting hypotenuses
and
bases], or
such that 20 v^-^ a square.

is
[For the rest the text
in a very unsatisfactory state.]
Diophantos does not give the work here, but merely the
is
results.
Moreover
is
there
a mistake in the text of
(5, 12, 13) for (H, 15, 17),
and the problem
not
finished.
Schulz works out this part of the problem thus Find two right-angled triangles whoso areas are in the ratio vi 1. Let the Bides of the first be formed from {2m + 1, m - 1), and of the second from (m 2, 7K-1), BO that two sides of the first are Am" -2m -2, ^m- + (im and the area
:
-f-
=6m' + 9Hi3-9,/i2-6m. Two sides of the second are
2m'^
+ 2m-i,
jft
G?;!
+ 3, and m times
the
first
the area
= Cm'* + 9m' - 9m- - Om.

formed from
2
Now
jmt e.g.
,'53)
;
= 3,
therefore
5,
(/,
'2,
k-ianglc is
7, 2, viz. (28, 4,5,
second from
viz. (20, 21, 29).

[i
Cossali remarks: "Construct the triangles
h,p)
= ipotenusa],
[-b
/ib^'
'
b
'
'
ir=^^j'
b
+ iip^
bAbp-p(b^-ip^)
b
^""^
[^b'
p Abp + b {b^ - ip-)
^^)'
,,\
ARITHMETICS.
26.
HOOK
V.
221
To
find three squares such that each exceeds tlicir continued

" = a;', and the squares have to be found by means of the same triangles as before. We put 25x*,
product by a square.
Let the "solid content
625a;-, 1 4784a;- for
them, ic.
[Text again corrupt.]

27.
To
find three
1 is
squares such that the product of any two
increased by
a square.
fii-st
Product of
and second +
= a
square, and the third
is
a square.
Therefore solid content + each = a square
reduces to the 24th above.
28.
;
and the pnjblem
To
find three squares such

1 is
that the product of any two
diminished by
a square.
[Same as 25th problem.]

or the solid content of the three hypotenuses has to that of the three perpendiculars the ratio of a square to a square.
It is in his
note on this imperfect problem that Fermat makes the error

above.
which
I referred to
He
says on the problem of finding
tico triiuujks
such
and one t<ide of each have a given ratio "This question troubled me for a long time, and any one on trying it will find it very difficult but I have at last discovered a general method of sohing it. "Let e.g. ratio be 2. Form triangles from (ab) and (a d). The rectangles under the hypotenuses and the perpendiculars are respectively 2ba^ + 2lPa,
that the products of hij2)otcnuse
:
2da^ + dâ, therefore since the ratio

transposition 2<P
is 2,
ba^ + bâ
= 2(da' + dâ),
Ij3
therefore
by
tho
-P = ba^ - 2da^
therefore, if -
2(P _
y-
be
made a
square,
problem
will be solved. Therefore I have to find two cubes <P, IP such that 2(P-h^ divided or multiplied by b-2d-a. square. Let x + 1, 1 be the sides,
therefore
2d3-63 = 2x3 + Cx= + Cx + l, 2b-d^l-x^

therefore
(l-a;)(l
+ 6a; + 6x' + 2x3) = l + 5x-4x3-2r-square=^|x + l-^V)

2d,
and everything is clear." [Now Fermat makes the mistake of taking 2b - d instead o{ hhe
fails to solve
and thus
tho problem.
Brassinnc (author of a
(1
Pr<Jci3 of
DiophantoH and
Fermat) thinks to mend the matter by milking

square, whereas, the quantity to be
made
a square
is (1
+Gx + 6x + 2r>)(l +2x) a + 6x + Ox' + 2x^1 { - 1 - 2x).
The solution is thus incurably wTong.] Fermat seems afterwards to have discovered
the solution
is
that his solution did not help to
solve this particular problem of Diophantos, but docs not
seem
to have seen that
inconsistent with his
own problem
itself.
222
29.
To
find three squares such that unity diminished
by the
product of any two = a square,
[Same
as (26).]
Given a number, find three squares such that the 30. two together with the given number jyroduces a square.
sum of any
squares =9.
Given number
15.
Let one of
the
required
Therefore I must find two other squares, such that each
Take + 24 = a square, and their sum + 15 = a square. two pairs of numbers whose product = 24, and let them
be the sides of a right-angled triangle' which contain 4
the right angle, say ,
Gx
let the side of
one square be
2 half the difierence, or -
3a;.
X
8x,
Again, take other
factoi'S
and
half
the
difierence
3
4:X
= side
\^
4ccj
of the other square, say.
2x
/ 3
Therefore (^
or
g ^
,
+(
/2
\"
3a; j
+15 = a
square,
-f
+ 25a;^ - 9 = a square =
and the problem
to
25a;^ say.
Therefore x =
31.
is solved.
Given a number,
exceeds the given
find
three squares such that the
sum of
any pair
number by a
square.
Given number 13. Let one of the squares be 25. Therefore we must seek two more such that each + 12 = a square, and (sum of both) - 13 ^ a square. Divide 12 into products
(3a;,
-) and
(4a;,
-J,
and
let
the squares be
/3 Therefore (^
a;
- -j +
a;"
2\"
/
(
2a;
- .^ j - 13 =
'^
3 \"
a square,
or
Therefore x
1
^ + 61
a;"
- 25 = a square = -|
XT
is
say.
2,
and the problem
solved.
G.r,
I.
c. corrcspoudiug factors in the
two pairs, in this case
Sj.
AllITHMETICS.
32.
BOOK
V.
223
squares
is
To find
three squares such that the
sum of thdr
9.
mare.
Let one be
x",
a;*
the second
4,
the third
(x'
^^
Therefore
+ 97 = a square =
10)* say.
Therefore
^''
2o>
^"*
*^--^
^ôt
a square and must be
replaced.
Hence I have
square.
to
find
p*,
q*
and
such that
;:'
"^~ ^ ^^ = a 2m
Let ;r = s-,
(*
m''-;/-5' =
âve,
,
q' = \, and //t = + 4. Therefore + 4)*-s--16 = 8c'. Hence we must
8'
ggT^g = ^
s'
square, or
4;:^
=a
square.
Put
+ 4 = (;s+l)say.
,
Therefore s =
and the squares are
i^"
=t
(7'
q^
4,
and
25.
m=
third
25
-Y,
or,
taking 4 times each, ^r =

first
9,
= IG,
7?i =:
Starting again, put the
square
= :<r,
the second
=-
^
x*
9,
the
{x'
= 16, whence - 25)^
the
sum
of the squares
+ 337
Therefore
12
\
and
33.
'144 /144
f
-^
,9, 16
j is
a sol ution.
[Fpigra7n-problem].
'OKTaSpdôv;
Koi.
TrevraSpaôvs ôeas
tis ffii^f.
Toi? TrpoTToXolcn ttuIv XPV^"^' a^roraâ/xcvos. Kat Tifxrjv airihoiKcv vwlp iravruiv jiTpaymvov,
Tas
iTTLTaxOeLcra^ Be^d/Jievov /iovaSas,

(re
Kat
TToiovvTa ttuXiv erepoV

KT7]adfj.evov
(f)ipiiv
TtTpdywvov
;(0'a)v.
nkivpdv
crvvdeixa
twv
'flare StacrreiXov toOs OKTaSpd^fiov^ ttoVoi ^crav,
Kai
TrdXc tovs Irepovs irai kiye irevTiSpaxfiovi.

{iinTaxOela-ai. fiovaScs)
Let the given number

:
be 60.
of
The
;^dc?
meaning is A man buys a certain number wine, some at 8 draclnnas, the rest at 5 eacli. And for them a square number of drachmas. 60 to this number the result is a stjuare whose
of
He
if
pays
we add
= the
side
224
whole number of
at each price.
xo'es.
Required how many ho bought

a"
Let X = the whole number of xo'es. Therefore

paid, wliich
is
- 60 = the
-
price
a square, (x
- m)"
say.
Now
of the price
of the five-drachma xoes
o of the price of the eight-
drachma
unless
xo'es
X.
We
GO)
cannot have a rational solution
ic
>
Q (x"
<g
{x^
60).
Therefore
+ 60 < 8x + 60. x" = 5a; + a number > 60, or x is' -^ 11. Hence 8a; + 60. a;Also Therefore a; is 12, so that x must lie between 11 and a;'-60=(a;-^)^ But
a;'
>
5a;
-f:
:|
12.
therefore
a;=
which > 11, <
12,
whence
vf + 60 > 22m < 24??t. From these we find, m is not > 21, and not < x' - 60 = {x - 20)', Hence we put a; = 11^. and Thus a;^-132i, a;^- 60 = 721,
and 72^ has
the
first
19.
to be divided into
of
Q of the second
11 A.
Let the
first
z.
Therefore
'
225
BOOK
VI.
1. To find a rational right-anfjkd triamjle such that nuse exceeds each side by a cube.
the hypote-
Suppose a triangle formed from

Therefore hypotenuse
=.x--+ 9,
tlie
two numbei-s
x, 3.
perpendicular = G.r, base=x'-9.
Therefore by the question x^ + 9 - (x*
9)
should
l)e
culx?,
or
3*,
18 should be a cube, which

therefore
it is not.
Now
18 = 2.
we must
; i.
replace the
number 3 by m, where
+
4, \x, x^
2r = a cube
e.
m = 2,
.r,
Thus, forming the triangle from
2, viz. (x"
4),
we must have a;" - 4a; + 4 a cube. Therefore {x - 2)- = a cube, or x-2 x =10, Hence
and the triangle
2.
a cube
-8
say.
is (40, 96, 104).
To
find a right-angled triangle such that the

is
sum
of the
hypotenuse and either side
a cube.
a triangle as before from two numbers, and one of them must be a number twice whose square - a cube, i.e. 2. Therefore, forming a triangle from x, 2, or (x' + 4, 4x, 4 - x*) we must have a;* + 4x + 4 a cube, and x^ < 4.
"
Form
Hence
a;
=a
cube, which
must be < 4 > 2
27
-^
say.
Therefore
.
^
,
.
"^
"s"
and the triangle
/135
is
(^_
-^ -
352
,
377\
To find a right-angled triangle such 3. and a given number is a square.

Let 5 be the given number,
Therefore
6 1*
that the
sum of the area
(3a;, 4a;, o.^)
the triangle.
+ 5 = square = 9x'
5
is
say.
Hence
3x-^
5,
and ^
find
not a square ratio.
Hence
must
a triangle
difference of the square of the
and a iuiml)er such that the number and the area of

e.
the triangle has to 5 a square ratio, L

..
- ^ of a square.
13
..
226
Form
from a triangle
1
x,
'
= ' then the area a;*

:
5,
and
let
the
a;'
-
number =x-i
or,
2.5
,
^.
so that i
.
.
-\
101
j-
= -
of a square,
2o +
15- = a
square
= (10 + j
Whence
The
triangle
cc
= -^
o
24
.
must therefore bo formed from -^

is
-7:7;
.
24
j
5
ni
>
and the number
oU
(Jix,
Put now
for the original triangle
2>x,
bx),
24
pbx'
where (hj^b) 170569
is
,
and we have the

4.
solution.
To find a right-angled given number by a square.
triangle such that its area exceeds a
Number
6,
triangle {3x, ix, 5x).

Gx^
Therefore
= square =
4aj* say.
Hence, as before, we must find a triangle and a number such

that the area of the triangle
- (number)^ =
-^
of a square.
Form
from the triangle

its
?,
7)1
fi
Therefore
area
= ju'
1)1,
:,,
and
let the
number he m--^.
z
Hence
or,
G (G \
36;>i"
s m.
- GO = a square =
(6i
2)*.
Therefore vi
the
.. ,
and the triangle must be formed from
(-^,
-A,
number being
5.
To
find a riglit-anglcd tri;nigle

S(juare.
such that a given number
exceeds the area by a
Number
10,
triangle
(3x',
ix,
5x).
Therefore
lO-Gx-'-a
square,
ARITHMETICS.
and a
triangle
BOOK
VI.
227
tli:it
and a number must be found sudi

-- of a square.
(nund.fr)*
+ area of triangle =
m,
Form a
triangle frum
- and
,
let
the
Dt
number be - + 5m.
Therefore
or
65i*
260i'
+ 25
^-
+ 100 = a square, a square = (8ni + 5)^
say.
Therefore
m - 80.
obvious.
triangle such that
is
th''
The
6.
rest
is
To find a right-angled
side*
sum of
the area
and one
about the right angle

7.
a given number.
Given number
therefore
Triangle {3x, 4x, 5x),
6x"+3c=7.
^j
+6.7
not being a square, is not possible.
Hence we must
,
,
siibstitute for (3, 4, 5) a right-angled triangle
/onesideX*
(
sucli that
^
I
times the area

1.
=a
square.
Let
one side be
Therefore
or
x, the other
^x + j =
is
a.
square,
lix +
rational,
= a square)
'
Also, since the triangle
x'+l = a squarei
14).
Now
the difference
7^
x^
lix = x(x~
24
-=-.
Therefore, putting
is
14a;
1,
we have xor
Therefore the triangle
/24
(-^
,
25\
1,
-;^ ),
we may make
it
(24, 7, 25).
Going back, we take as the triangle

Therefore
84a;"
(24.c, 7x, 25x).
+ lx-l, and
.
x^
25
,
.
Hence the
7.
/
(
7
6,
triangle is
To
find a right-angled triangle sucii that its area exceeds
ouo
of
its sides
by a given number.
1 N.B. For brevity and distinctness I slmll in future call llic flidcs about the riht angle simply "sides," and not apply the term to the hyiwUjnuMC. which
will
always be called "hypotenuse."

1
.;
228
Given number
7.
Therefore, as before,
(
we have
)
to find a
right-angled triangle such that
^ times area
a square,
i.e.
the triangle
(7, 24, 25).

(7a;, 24a;, 25a;).
Let the triangle of the problem be

Therefore
8.
84a;^
7a;
7,
and
x=
^.
To find a right-angled triangle such that the sum of its area and both sides = a given number. Number 6. Again I have to find a right-angled triangle such /sum of sidesX' ~ times area = a square. that -f Let i,
(
p be the sides; therefore

1
.1
-1
..1
fm+l\-
j
= ^ +-^ +3m
m"
7m
square, and
m"
-f-
= a square.
1
Therefore
vi'
im +
m- +
1)
,
are both squares, ' ^
and the difierence = 2i

Therefore
7.
"''
^ 28
45
'
(45
53\
Assume now
Therefore
for the triangle of the

G30a;'
problem
(45a;, 28a;, 53a;).
73a;
6,
and X
9.
is
rational,
its
To find a right-angled triangle such that the sum of both sides by a given number.
area exceeds
Number
find
6.
As
before
we
find subsidiary triangle (28, 45, 53).

(28a;, 45a;, 53a;),
Therefore, taking for the required triangle
we
6S0x- - 73a;
6,
and
10.
x= ^
65
that the sian
To find a right-angled triangle such hypotenuse, and one side is a given number.
of
its
area,
Given number
and
4.
Assuming
hx, px, bx,
,-,
+ hx ^-bx=i,
in order that this equation
may have
a rational solu-
tion I
must
find a triangle such that

-f
/hypotenuse
one sideV
-f-
4 times area = a square.
AlUl'lI MIOTICS.
BOOK
;,
VI.
229
1.
^[ake a right- angled triangle from

/hyiJOtenuse
m+
+
Therefore
1
+ one
sicle\
/2t*
2//i
+
2
'2m
+ 1\*
4//t
=v
and 4 times area = im {/a which = Sm^ + 12/- + im.

Therefore
= Hi* + im' + + 1) (2m + 1)
Gin'
) +
m* + I2iu^ + ISm- +
Sm + 1 ^ a
square =
(7/4-
Gm -
1)^ say.
Hence
m=,,
4
(
,
and the triangle must be formed from
j,
or
(5, 9).
Thus we must assume
for the triangle of the

~^3.c),
problem the
4.
similar triangle {2Sx, 45.f,
and
G30.C*
+ 81a-=
Therefore
11.
x=
lOo
To
find a right-angled triangle such that its area exceeds the
sum
of the
hypotenuse and one side by a given number.

before,
Vjy
Number 4. As we get
Therefore
12.
its
G30a;"
means of the 81.'; = 4.

6
^
.
triangle (28, 45, 53)
x=
To
find a right-angled triangle such that the difference of
sides is a square,
-1-
and
also the greater alone
is
a square, and,
thirdly, its area
the less side - a square.
Let the triangle be formed from two numbei-s, the gi-eater side Hence I must find two being twice their product.
numbers such Uiat twice their product
is
a square and also
exceeds the difference of their squares by a square. This twice is true for any two numbers of which the gi-eater
-
the
less.
Form then
or 6x^
the triangle from x, 2x, and two conditions are
fulfilled.
-I-
The third condition gives Gx* + = a square. Therefore we must

its
3x* - a wjuarc,
seek a
number
such that six times

i.e.
square with 3 produces a square,

of others.
1, 2.
1,
and an
infinite
number
is
Hence the
triangle required
formed from
is
Lemma. number of squares can be found which by
Given two numbers whose sum
s(iuai-o,
an
infinite
multiplication with one of

230
the given ones and the addition of the other to this product give
squares.
Given numbers
which
3 (x^
3, G.
Let
x"
2a;
be the square required,
will satisfy
2a;
1)
=a
square, or
2>x-
G.r
+ 9 = a square.
This
indeterminate
solutions.
equation
has
an
infinite
number
of
1 3.
and
either
To find a right-angled triangle such of its sides = a square.

(5a;, 12a;,
that the
sum of
its
area
Let the triangle be

Therefore
30.'
13x).
1 2a;
6a;
=a
12,
square
= =
36a;^ say.
2.
Therefore
and
a;
But SOx^ + 5x
12
is
not a square
when x = 2.
Therefoi'e I
must
find a square mâ;^ to replace 36a;" such that the value
- 30
:ryr
of X
IS
veol
.
and
-,
satisfies 30a;-
5a;
=a
square,
rru-
1 .-. 1 This gives by *' ^ substitution
60m^+2520
z^^
,, . .
m* - 60m +
square.
to
1)00
a square. ^
Therefore 60??r +
2520=a
If then [by Lemma'] we
had 60 m' + 2520 equal

solved.
a square, the equation could he
Now
60 arises from
of (5,
area,
12,
5,
12,
i.e.
from the product of the
sides
13);
2520
is
the continued product of the

sides
the greater side
and the difference of the
[30.
12.1235].
find a subsidiary triangle such that the proside,
Hence we must
duct of the sides + the continued product of greater

difierence of sides
and area - a square.

a square, we must have [dividing
difference of sides
Or, if we
make
the greater side
by
it],
less side
+ product of
side),
and area
=a
square.
Therefore
(area
and
it
less
we must, given two numbers find some square such that if we

less side, the result is
multiply
by the area and add the

2'his is
a square.
triangle
1
done hy the Lemmas^ and the auxiliary
is (3, 4, 5).
Diophantos has expressed this rather curtly.
If (h
b)
bo the triangle
(b>p), we have to
a Kquarc, or
if
make
hp + ^bp
2'
(b
-p) b
b is a square,
+i
^'P
U'-p) must be a square.
ARITHMETICS.
Thus,
if
I50<)K
VI.
liSl
the original triangle

Gx-*
is {Zx, ix', 5x),

4a;)
,
.
we have
4
a
Let
!=
be the solution of the
first
equation.
q-^; Therefore the second gives Trr. + " 7Ji'-12//i' + 30

;
7.
9G
^ m'-G
.
12 "
=a
S(iuarc. '
Hence
and we must
Therefore
12 m^ + 24
=a
square,
it
find a square such that twelve times
+ 24 = a
square [as in Lemma],
m^ =
a;
25,
and
^.
.
,
.
Tj-jT
Therefore the triangle required
isLq,
/12
16 jq,
20\
-.q)-
14.
To
find a right-angled triangle such that its area exceeds
either side
by a square.
triangle found as before to
(3a;,
l)c
The
similar to
(3,
1,
0), i.e.
ix, 5x).
Therefore
6.r
4a;
= square ^ m" {<
G).
Hence
x=
232
15.
To
find a right-angled triangle
such that
its
area exceeds
either the liypotenuse or one side
by a square.
Let the triangle be

Therefore
(3a;,
ix, 5x).
V
6a;*
-5a;)
\)X
are both squai-es.
^,
ox\
Making the
Therefore
15wt*
latter a square,
we
,^
find
x=
^, -
3
;,
Cm?
< 6).
square,
from
the
first
(G
- m)-
t,
=a
or
- 36 =
a square.
is
This equation we cannot solve, since 15

squares.
not the
sum
of
two
the
Now
15??i^=the product of a squai-e less than the

hy})0teuuse,
;
ai-ea,
the area,
and one side 36 = the continued product of one side, and the difference between the hypoteside.
nuse and that
Hence we must find a right-angled triangle and a square such that tlie square is < 6, aîd the continued pi'oduct of the
square, the hyj)otenuse of the triangle,
and one
side
of
it
exceeds the continued product of the area, the said side
and
the difference hetioeen the
hypotenuse and that side by
a square. [Lacuna and coiTuption in text']. Foi*m the triangle from two "similar plane numbers" [numbers
of the form ah, oir], say 4,
ditions,
1.
This will
satisfy the con-
and
is
let the
square be 36.
17a;).
(< area.)
The
triangle
then (8*, \bx,

GO.r-
Therefore
8a;
360;^^
say.
Thus
and the triangle
^^
x=
^'
1
y^,
(3'
1 Schulz works out the subsidiary part of this problem thus, or rather only proves the result given by Diophantos that the triangle must be formed from two "similar plane numbers'' a, aU- [i.e. a. 1 and ah. h.] and hyp. h = a-h^^-a-.
;
greater side
ij
= a-b* - -,
less side k
= 2a-b'\
area /= ^ kg.
Now
h-k = a^b* - 2a-b'^ + a" = {ab"^ - ay,

square and hkz'^ - Jcfih - ft) is a square i{ z-=k (h - k) k, for, if we then divide by the square h - k and twice by the square kk, we get 2 (k-(i)îa\ which is a
ft
;
square.
AUlTilMETlCS.
16.
I'.uolv
VI.
233
multiplictl
Given two numbers,
if
some square be
by one of
them, and the other be subtracted, the result being u square, then
another square can be found greater than the
the same property.
tii-st
square wliich han
[Leitwia to the following problem.]

11, side of square 5, so that 3.
Numbei-s
3,
25
5)*.
-11= 64
=a
square.
Let the required square be
(.
Therefore
3
(a;
5)-
1 1
3.v"
+ 30x + 64 =
x=
62. 67,
a square = (8
2.r)
say.
Hence The side

17.
of the square
and the square
it.self
= 4489.
the area
2h find a riyht-amjled
triamjle such that the
sum vf
ami
either the hypotenuse or one side
=a
square.
{h, k,
(j)
We
must
first
seek a triangle
{h
and a square
z'
s'
such
that hkz-
- ka
-k) = a,
squai-e,
4, 1,
and
>
the area.
Let the triangle be formed from

the triangle being
and the square be 36, but,

is
(8, 15, 17),
the square
not
>
area.
Therefore
the
we must
find
another square to replace 36 by
Lemma
.
in the preceding.
i)
But
.
hk = 136, ka {h -
= 480
= 4320.
Thus 36 136 - 4320 = a square, and we want to find a larger square {m') than 36 such that 136?' - 4320 - a square.
Putting
or,
m = z+ 6,
136^'
(s-
+ 122 + 36) 136 - 4320 = square,
+ 16322 + 576 = a square = (z - 24)* say. This equation has any number of solutions, of which one gives 676 for the value of {z + 6)' [putting n = 16].
Hence, putting
for the triangle (8x,
15.i-,
17x),
we
get
60x* +
8a;
= 676x-*,
"
Therefore
^ ^ 77
18.
To find a right-anfied triangle such

is
that the
Hue
hiscctiw/ nti
acute angle
rational.
Let the bisector (A D) = 5a; and one .section of \x. so that the perpendicular
tlu- has,-
Itli) .ij,
234
Let the whole base be some multiple of
3,
say
3.
Then
CD = 3-3x.
But, since
AD
bisects the i
BAC,
the hypotenuse
- (3
3a;),
therefoi-e the
hypotenuse = 4
- 4a;.
+
9,
Hence
IGa;'
32a;
+ 16 =
16a;=
and
a;
Multiplying throughout by 32, the perpendicular
28, the base
96, the
hypotenuse = 100, the bisector =: 35.
To find a right-angled triangle such that the sum of its area 19. and hypotenuse = a square, and its perimeter = a cube. Let the area = x, the hypotenuse = some square minus x, say Therefore, if one 16 -a;; the product of the sides = 2x. of the sides be 2, the other is x, and the perimeter = 18,
which
Therefore
is
not a cube.
find
we must
a square which by the addition of 2
becomes a cube.
Let the side of the square be {x+
(a:-l).
Thei-efore
a;^
1),
and the
side of the cube
3a;^
3a;
= a;^ +
2a;
3,
from which
a;
= 4.
find that
2).
Hence
the side of the square
is 5,
and of the cube
3.
x, hypotenuse = 25 - a?, we = a cube (sides of triangle being x, But (hypotenuse)'' = sum of squares of sides. of - 50a; + 625 = a;- + 4, Therefore
Again, assuming area =

the perimeter
and
20.
x=-^.
621
and
hg2>otenuse
To find a right-angled triangle such that the sum of its area = a cube, and the perimeter = a square. Area x, hypotenuse some cube mimis x, sides x, 2. Therefore we have to find a cube which by the addition of 2
becomes a square.
Let the
side of the
cube =
'
m-1.
\*
say.
^m + lj (3
Thus
wi
= -J-, and the cube
21
<)'
2,
Put then the area a;, the sides x and

(4913
rrr
the hypotenuse
4913
^y^ -x.
\*
xj
= a;^ +
4 gives
a;.
AlUTIIMETICS.
21.
ROOK
VI.
235
its
and one
side is
To find a right-angled triancjle mch that thf sum of a square and its perimeter is a cube.
a riglit-angk'il triangle from
.r,
area
Make
x+
1.
Therefore the i)erpendicular
-2x+\,
1
(-
the base = 2x* + 2x, the
hypotenuse = 2x* +
First, Ax-
2x*
Ga; all
+2=a
tlie
cube, or (4a;
2) {x
1 )
=
to
a cube.
divide
sides by
x+
we have
square.
If wo make 4x + 2
a cube.
Secondly, area
^, Ihereiore
+ perpendicular = a
r-r^
= + +3xVx + 2x+l X+
2x^
;
-^
1
(x
1)*
a square. ^
Hence
2x'
^39"
=a
5x*
+ 4x+l
i
"
^ 2x+
=a
square.
find a
But 4x+
cube.
Therefore
we must
3 -
cuU- which
is
double of a square.
Tlierefore
2x +
1
4,
x=
and .1 the . triangle

22.
/8
(^g,
15
^
,
IS
-j
such that
is
17\
To
find a right-angled triangle

is
tlie
sum
of
its
area and one side
a cube, while
its
perimeter
a square.
Proceeding as before, we have to make
4x + 2 a squarej 2x + 1 a cube /
Therefore the cube
'
8,
the square = IG,
.,,
and the
23.
/16
63
65\
triani
square,
and
To fiml a right-angled triangle such that its perimeter the sum of its perimet^ and area is a cube.
a right-angled triangle from
2.7;,
is
Form
x, 1.
Therefore the sides are
and the hypotenuse x* + 1. Hence 2x* + 2x should be a square, and x' 2x* -f x a cul>c. let it ^ 7V. It is easy to make 2x'' + 2x a square
x-*1,
-I:
Therefore
x-
^"'
m*
8
^ -2
and from the second condition

8
_2^
"^
{m' - 2)'
"^
{m' rr-3
2)'
m' - 2
culto.
must be a cube,
i.e.
7-^
(w -J)
= a
236
Therefox'e
2m* = a cube, or
4,
.X'
2m = a
*"
cube = 8 say.
I
Thus
??i
2 r7
14
^^^
^ 7a 49
But
foi*
one side of the triangle we have to subtract
from
this,
which
is
impossible.
a;
Therefore I must find another value of
>
so that
m" > 2 <
4. it
And
Let
must
be
find a
cube such that \ of the square of
>
it
< 4.
1 G,
3
n^, so
that
,
?i"
>
8 <
This 27
is satisfied
by
729
-"=G4''^==TTherefore
m=^^,
16
97
nr =
729
.
25G
512 x = ^^^ and the square of

,
this
21/
>
24.
1.
Thus the
triangle
is
known.
2)erimeter is
7'o Jiiid
cube
and
the
a right-angled triangle such that its sum of its perimeter and area = a square.
(1)
We
may
must
first
see how, given
two numbers, a triangle
be formed whose perimeter = one of the numbers,

other.
and whose area - the

Let
12, 7 be the
numbers, 12 being the perimeter, 7 the area.
Therefore the product of the sides
= 14 = -
14.u
Thus the hypotenuse = 12
1 4x'.
Therefore from the right-angled triangle

1
172 +
or, '
4+
a;-
19Ga;''
- 336x -
24
= -^ + 196a;^ X X
1
172 - 336a;- ^- =
0.
This equation gives no rational solution, unless 86"- 24. 336

IS
a square.
:^
But 172
(perimeter)-
+ 4 times
area,
24 336 = 8 times area

.
multiplied by (perimeter)".
(2)
is
Let now the area = x, the perimeter = any number which both a square and a cube, say 64.
(
Therefore
or,
64"
a;
must be a square,
4a;'
2 4 5 7 6a;
+ 4 1 9 4 3 4 ^ a square.
AUITMMETICS.
I500K VI.
is is
li.ST
Therefore x' - GlU.c + 1048570
a square.)
Also
X + 04 by such a square as
as in the
first.
a square./
To
solve this double equation, multiply the second equation

will
make
the absolute
t<.'rm
the same
Then, taking the difference and factors,
itc, the equations are solved.
[In the text
we
find i$i(Tw(r$o} aoi ol
dpiO/JLoi,
which, besides
being ungrammatical, would seem to be wrong, in that

dpiOfjiOL is
used in an unprecedented manner for
/loraoe?.]
25.
To
find a right-angled triangle such that the square of its

its
hypotenuse = the sum of a square and

the
side,
<and
the quotient
obtained by dividing the (hypotenuse)^ by one side of the triangle =
sum
of a
cube and
its side.
Let one of the sides be
x,
the other
x'.
Therefore (hypotenuse)"
= the sum
+ its
side,
of a square and
its side,
and
Lastly, X*
=
X
+
x'
a cube
must be a square.
1
Therefore of +
Therefore
a;
=
,
a square
{x
2)' say.
= -j and the
triangle
is
found.
26.
the other
To find a right-angled triangle such = the diflerence between a cube and

of a cube
that one side

its side,
is
a cube,
the hypotenuse
= the sum
and
its side.
a;'
Let the hypotenuse =
x,
one side = x^-x.
Therefore the other side Therefore
2x*
2,
=a
cube.
x=
and the triangle
is (6, 8, 10).
TRACT ON TOLYGONAL NUMBERS.

All numbers, from 3 onwards in order, are polygonal, con-
1.
taining as
"
many
sides as units, e.g. 3, 4, 5, &c.

is
As
a square
formed from the multiplication of a number
by itself, so it was proved that any polygonal multiplied by a number in proportion to the number of its sides,
with the addition to the product of a square also in proportion to the
number
of the sides, became a square.
This
ber
we may
shall prove, first
be found from
its side
showing how a polygonal numor the side from a given
polygonal number."
2.
If
there are three

2>i'odicct
numbers equally distant from each
other,
then 8 times the

the least
of the greatest and the middle + tlie square of = a square whose side is (greatest + twice middle number).
to prove
Let the numbei-s be AB, BG, BD (in fig.) we have 8 {AB){BG) + {BDy- = [AB + 2BGy.
B..D...G
Now
Therefore
.
AB = BG+GI).
. .
.
SAB BG - 8 (BG' + BG GD) = iAB BG + iBG' + 4BG GD. and iBG GD +DB'^ AB' [for AB=BG + GD, DB = BG-GD\
.
and we have
to seek
how AB" + iAB.
BG
-\-
iBG^ can be made
a square.
Take
Therefore
.
AE^ BG.
iAB BG = iAB AE.
.
This together
together
3.
ABG' or iAE' makes iBE.EA, and with AB' = [BE+EA)- = (AB + 2BGy.
witli
A. p.
this
If there are any numbers in
the difference
of the greatest
the
and
the least
>
the
common
1.
difference in the ratio
of
number of
terms dimiuiahcd by
POLYGONAL NUMBERS.
Let AB, BG, BD, BE... he in
a. p.
239
B.A..G..D.. E
Therefore
we must have, AB, BG) X (number
difference of
AB,
BE^ (difference
=
of
of
terms-
1).
AG, GD,
DE arc
1).
all
equal.
Therefore
EA
x
AG
>i
(number
term.s in
of the terms
AG, GD, DE) ^
AG
(number of
series-
Therefore
4.
(kc.
If
there are
terms
double the
sum of all.
number
any numbers in a.p. {greatest + [2s = 7i{l + a).]

2^,
least) x
number of
Let the numbers be ^,

(A
C, D, E, F.
shall be twice the
+F)
X the
of
them
sum.
A.B.C.D.E.F
H.L.M.K...G
The number of terms is either even or odd number be the number of units in IIG.
First, let the
;
and
let their
number be
A'.
i^,
even.
Divide IIG into two equal
parts at
Now
the difference of
Z)
the difference of C, A.
Therefore
Hence
Therefore
F+ A =C + I),h\it F + A = {F+ A) HL. C + D = {F+A)LM, E+B = {F+A)MK.

A + B + ... = (F+A) UK. {F + A) IIG ^twice (A +B +...).
number of terms be
units in odd, A, B, C, D, E,
J:c.
And
5.
Secondly, let the
and
let there
be as
many
FU as there are terms,
A.B.C.D.E
F.G.K.II
6.
If titer e are a
A. p.,
series
of numbers beginning
loilh
and
increas-
ing in
then the sicm of all x eight times the

difference
common
difference
ished by
+ the square of {common 2^ the common

1 is
2)
=a
square, whose side dimin-
difference multijilied
by a number, which
increased by
double of the
number of terms.
a,
...
[Let the
a.p.
be
1,
+n-
a.
Therefore
i,
e.
we have to prove s.8a + {a-2y = {a{2n-\) + - 4 (a - 2) na, 8as = 4a
2y,
or
2 - an'
(o - 2)
= n (2 +
n-
la)].
240
Proof.
Let AB, GD,
EZ be
numbers in
A. p. starting
from
1.
A.K..N...B
Let
D E.L
Z
\.
H.M XT HT contain as many units as there are terms including
Difference between
X a number Put AK, EL,
EZ and
(difference
3].
between
-4
5 and
1)
1 less
than IIT [Prop.
HM each equal to unity.

LZ=MT.KB.
Therefore
Take
KN = 2
KB
by 2 =
and inquire whether the sum of all x eight times + square on NB makes a square whose side diminished
KB X sura
I
product
of
HT, TM.
Sum
and
of all
{ZE + EL) .IIT=\ {LZ + 2EL) HT,

.
LZ= AIT KB
\
.
from above.
.
Therefore the sum =

or, bisecting
(KB iVT
the
TH+ 2TH),
KB TH TX+ HT.
. .
MT at X,
sum =
Thus we inquire
is
lohether
.
KB. TH. TX. SKB + 8KB

a square.
HT + square
. .
on
KB
Now
and
Therefore
SHT TX KB' = iHT TM

.
KB',
SKB
HT = AHM. KB + i (HT + TM) KB.

must
see lohether
toe
i.HT. TM. KB' + iHM. KB + 4 (HT + TM) KB + NB"is
a square.
4/7.1/ KB = 2KB NK, 2KB.NK+NB-=KB- + KN% /JA'^ = HM' BK\ HM\BK"- + UlT TM BK'= {HT+ TMf BK\
. . . . .
But and and again

and
Hence our expression becomes
{HT+ TMf Bid + 4 {HT + TM) KB + A'iV^^

R A.K..N ...B A' T H.M
or,
putting
{HT + TM) BK= NR, NR' + iNR + KN'

4.NR ^
and and and
2NR NK.
.
Therefore the given expression
is
a square whose side
is
RK,
RK -2 = NR, which is KB {HT + TM), HT+ TM+ 1 = twice the number of terms.
th(!
Thus
proposition
is
proved.
POLYGONAL NUMBERS.
7.
241
Let
HT+TMÂ, KB=B.
1j
Therefore square on
.1 x
square on
B = square
line.
ou G, where
G = {HT+TM)KB.
Let
DE = A, EZ
=^
B, in a straight
Complete squares DT, EL, and complete TZ.
Then
DE
EZ^DT
TZ, and
TE
EK=TZ
EL.
Therefore
TZ is a mean
-h
proportional between the two squares.
Hence the product of
the squares
the square of TZ, and
DT^ {IIT TMf, ZK = square

Thus the product
on KB.
(HT +
T2If.
KB' = NB^.
8.
If
is
the
svm
difference
there are any number of terms heginning from 1 in a. p. a jiolygonal number, for it has as many angles as the common increased by 2 contains units, ami its side = the number
1.
of terms
inclibding the term
The numbers being represented

multiplied by
in the figure, (sum of series
^KB) + NB- - RK\
O.A.K..N...B
II
.
RG-
-D
/;
L-
A'-
-T
Therefore, taking another
unit
AO,
KO
2,
KN
--
2,
and
OB, BK,
BN are
in arithmetical progression, so that
[Prop. 2], and

or 3
of
is
S.OB.BK + BN' = {OB + 2BKy, OB + 2BK- OK - ZKB an.l 3+12.2,

one
less
than the double of the common difference

the j)rogressiou, including unity,
It;
OB, BK, BN.
Now as the sum of the terms of

H. D.
242
is
subject to the
and and
OB
always a polygonal (the
AB
same laws as Oi? while OB is any number first term being AO [1] the term next after it) whose side is 2, it follows
',
that the
sum
of
all
terms in the progression
is
a polygonal
equiangular to OB, and having as

are units in the
difference
many
angles as there
number which exceeds by OK, or 2, the KB, and the side of it is HT which = number
1.
of terms, including
And thus is demonstrated what is

If
there are
said in Hypsikles^ definition.
any numbers increasing from unity by equal intervals, when the interval is 1, the sum of all is a triangular number : wlien 2, a square: when 3, aj)entagon and so on. And the number of angles = 2 + common difference, the side = number of terms including 1.
So
that, since
we have
triangles
when
the diffei'ence
1,
the
sides of
them
1
will be the greatest
term in each
case,
and
the product of the greatest term and the greatest term

increased by
- twice the
triangle.
And,
since
units,
OB
is
a polygonal and has as
many
(itself
angles as
and when multiplied by 8 times
2)
and
increased after multiplication by the square of (itself

[i.e.
4)
NB-] it becomes a square, the numbers will be

:
definition of polygonal
Every polygonal multiplied 8 times into (number
of angles
2)
+ square
of (number of angles
4) = a
squax'e.
The Hypsiklean
definition being proved, it remains to

sides,
show
how, given the
we may
find the
numbers.
Now
having the side
HT
and the number of angles we know
KB, Hence KR
also
*
therefore
is
we
have
{IIT +
TM) KB = NR.
given
[NK^1\
Take the aiithmetical progression
1, 6
+ 1,
This result Nesselmann exhibits thus. 2& + l...(K-l)t + l.

Qsh +
(l)
If s is the sum, If
- 2)'^=[h (2k -
1)
+ 2p,
a. p.,
now we
take the three terms
6-2,
h,
+ 2,
also in
8b(?;+2)
+ (?i-2)' = [(6 + 2) + 26]'
= (3!> + 2)2,
Now 6 + 2
Hence
s
is
the
sum
of the
first
two terms of
first series;
and
= 2.2-1,
therefore 3 corresponds to 2h -
1.
and
+ 2 are subject
to the
same
law.
POLYGONAL NUMBERS.
Therefore
it
243
we know
also the square of
the square
of
KR. Subtracting from NB, we have tlie remaining term

find the side.
which = number
Similarly given the
9.
x '^KB.
number we can
number from
Rule.
To Jhid
the
the side.
Take the side, double it, subtract 1, and multiply the remamder by (number of angles - 2). Add 2 to the product, and from the square of the number subtract the square of (number of angles 4). Dividing the remainder by 8 times (number of angles - 2), we find the required
polygonal.
To
filed the side
from
the
numher.
Multiply
it
l>y
8 times
(number of angles - 2), add to the product the square of (number of angles - 4). We thus get a square. Subtract 2 from the side of this square and divide remainder by (number of angles - 2). Add 1 to quotient and half the
result is the side required.
10.
[A fragment.]
to
Given a numher,
find in how viany loays
it
can he a polygcmal.
of angles, and
Let
AB be in BG
the given number,
BG
the
number
take
.
GD = 2, GU - 4.
B Z
E..D..G
A T
has BG angles, %AB BD + BE- = a square = ZIP say. Take in AB the length AT=\. Therefore MB BI)= iAT BD + i (AB + TB) BD.
Therefore, since the polygonal
.
H AB
Take
and
but
for
Therefore
Hence
and
DK=i{AB+TB), AAT.BD put 2BD DE. ZIP = KD BD + 1BD .DE + BE*, 2BD DE + BE' = BD' + DE\ ZU ^ KD BD + BD* + DE\
. . .
'
KD BD + BD^ - KB BD. Zir=KB.BD+DE\ Thus and, since DK = 4 {AB + TB), DK> 4 J T > 4, and half 4 - DG,
.
.
GK>GD.
244
Therefore, if
DK is bisected at L, L will
sqiiare
.
fall
.
between
G and K,
and the
on
A T
Z
Therefore
or
LB = LD' + KB BD. E..D..G L K H N M
ZE' = BU - LD' + DE\ ZH' + DL' = BU- + DE\

LD"-~DE' = LB'~ZH\
and Again
since
ED = DG and DG is produced
EL.LG + GD'=DL\
.
to L,
Therefore
Hence Put
Therefore
so that
DL' - DG' = DL' - DE' = EL LG. EL LG = LB' ~ ZIP. ZM = BL {BL being > ZII).
.
ZM' - ZH' = EL LG
.
but
DK
is
bisected in L,
DL = 2 (AB + BT)
GL = iB T,
and
DG = 2 AT.
Therefore
and BT-^^GL,
but also
Therefore
AT
{ov l)
= ^^6-'(or
4).
AB = 4 \ EL,
but
TB
also
GL.
Hence
or
AB.TB=ÊL. LG,
EL.LG=1(JAB.BT.
Thus
UAB.BT = MZ' - ZII

IIM is
eveî.
'
= 21H ' + 2ZH
IIM.
Therefore
Let
it
be bisected in JV
[Here the fragment ends.]
INDEX
[The references are to pages.]
Ab-kismet, 41
Abu'lfaraj,
u.
Ars
13, 41
13,
rei et census,
21
h.
2, 3, 12,
Auria, Joseph, 51, 56
Abu'l-Waffi
Al-Biizjfmi,
2520,
Autolykos, 5
4042,
148, 155, 157
Abu
Ja'far
Mohammed
ibn AUiusain,
156
Addition,
Bacchios
y^pwv, 14, 15, 16
how expressed by Diophantos,

for,
Bachet, 49
53 and passim
69
Bombelli's sign
45
Vieta's,
"Back-reckoning," H5
86,
114; exap-
78 .
Algebraic notation, three stages
of,
77
SO
aljabr, 40, 92,
amples of, 110, 111, and in the pendix passim Bhaskara, 153
Billy, Jacobus de, Blancauus, 3
3,
149150, 158
?;.,
54
Alkarkhi, 2425, 71
156159
ibn Mfisfi
Al-Kharizmi, see
Mohammed
ii.
Bombelli, 13, 14, 15, 23, 35, 36.

45, 52,
42
almuktibahi, 92, 149150, 158
134135;
68
n.,
his algebraic no-
Al-Nadim, 39, 40
Alsirfij,
tation, 45,
Al-Shahrastani, 41
Bossut, 32, 38, 90
138139
n.
24
u.,
159
Brahmagupta, 153
Brassinne, 221 n.
avaipopiKos of Hj-psikles, 5
6x)pl(TTu%, iv doplarcf),
140
23
Camcrarius, Joachim,
Cantor, 55
152, 156, 157
2,
ApoUonios,
4, 8, 9,
Approximations, 117120, 147
42
141
n.,
Apukius, 15 Arabian scale of powers compared with that of Diophantos, 7071, 150
151
Arabic translations, Ac, 23, 24, 25,
h., 58, 59. 67,
151.
Cardan, 43, 46, 70

Casiri, 41 n.
Cattle-problem, the,
7,
142117
3942, 148159
Archimedes,
7,
Censo, 70
Coefficient, 93 .
142, 143, 144, 146, 147
Aristoxenos, 14, 15
Colebrooke,
12,
19
n.,
33,
133. 136.
Arithmetic and Geometry, 31,
141
137 n.
Cosa, 45, 70
Cossali, 1, 3, 10, 12, 31, 36, 41 n., 43 n..
49, 51, 70, 71. 107 n.. 133. 136.
142
'ApiOfiriTLKo. of
Diophantos, 33 and pasIH,
sim
apidfiijriKri
HO.
and
XoyiaTiK-f),
136,
169
;i..
220
;i.
145
dpidfioi, 6
;
Tridhara, 153
Diophantos' technical use
of the word, 57, 150; his sj-mbol for

it,
Cubes two
transformation of a
Bom
of
cube-s into the difference of
two
57-
66,
137138, 160
others,
and
vice rer$ii,
123125
apidfiOffTov,
74
Cubic equation. 30, 9391. 114
246
Data
of Euclid, 140
Gardthausen,
60,
64
Dedication to Dionysios, 136

Definitions of Diophantos, 28, 29, 57,
67,
7-4,
Geminos, 18, 145146 Geometry and algebra, 140
141, 151
31,
137, 138, 163

:
Determinate equations
reduction
of, 29,
see
contents
153, 156, 158 Geometry and arithmetic,

142
Girard, Albert, 3
n.,
141
149150
Diagonal numbers, 142
55
Didymos,
Digby, 23
14, 15, 16
Gow
on Diophantos, 64 160
n.
66
7i.,
137
n.,
Dioi^hautos, see contents
Hankel, 8385, 129

s
,
.
35, 98
Harmonics
lemy, 15
of Diophantos, 14
of Pto-
Division,
tos,
how
represented by Diophan-
73
Harriot, 78 n.
Double-equations of the first and second

degrees, 98
Heiberg, 146147, 160
107
of higher degrees,
Heilbronner, 3
112113 Svva/jLis and

63, 66
7i.,
Herakleides Ponticus, 16
the sign for
67, 68, 140,
it,
58
;
n., 62,
dvfa/xis
Heron
of Alexandria, 141, 153

5,
151
Hipparchos,
141
and Terpaywvoi, 67 68 dwa/xoduva/jus and the sign

dvvainoOvvafJ.oa'Toi',
Hippokrates, 67
for
it,
67
68
ii.,
History of the Dynasties, see Abu'Ifaraj
74
for
it,
Holzmann, Wilhelm,
65
Hultsch, 146
n.
see
Xylander
39
n.
dvva/jMKvôs
and the sign
6768
Swa/JLOKVôffTov, 74
Hypatia,
1, 8, 9, 10, 11, 17, 38,
Hypsikles,
4, 5, 6, 135,
242
dwafioarov, 74
Z
for
tffos,
75
78, 79,
er5os
= power,
29
7i.
lambHchos,
4, 5,
140
Elements of EucUd,
142, 158
Identical formulae, 125
Epanthema
Epigrams,
of Thymaridas, 140
2, 6, 7, 9,
Indeterminate equations, 94
146, 147, 157, 158, 159
of,
113, 144,
142147, 223
76 see contents;
for,
Equality, Diophantos' expression
Irrationality, Diophantos' view of, 82
7576
Xylander's sign
of,
Isidoros, 5
Equations, classes
Italian scale of powers, 70, 71
reduction of determinate equations,

29,
149-150
4, 5,
jabr, 40, 92,

jiclr,
149150, 158
Eratosthenes, 5
Euclid, Elements,
142, 158; Data,
150
140
John of Damascus, 8 John of Jerusalem, 8

ka'b, 71 n., 157, 158
Eudemos, 67
Eunapios, 13
Fabricius,
Kitab
1, 5,
AljUtrist,
39
14
n.,
Kliigel, 11,
90
n.,
144
Fakhn,
Fermat,
the,
2425, 71
156159
124,
Kostfi ibn Luk:l, 40

KvfioKvpos
KvjBos
13, 23, 53, 54, 68, 123,
125, 126, 128, 129, 130, 131, 221 n.

Fihrist, the, 39, 40, 41, 42
and the sign for it, 6768 and the sign for it, 58 n., 62, 63,
66h.,
67 68
Fractious, representation of, 73
75
Kuster, 8
INDEX.
Lato, 70
247
Notation, algebraic: three stages, 77
Lehmann, 60
Xfr^ty,
80
for
it,
drawbacks of Diophantos' nota-
and the symbol

iirl
66
;i.,
TI-
tion,
8082
TS, 137, 163
Xei^tj
\e'i\pLv
jroWairXaffiaffOuaa
n.
TTOtet virap^LV,
13T
\i6((>avTos or Aewâj'Tos, 14
Lessing, 142, 143, 144, 146 h.
Limits, jnethod
of,
86, 8T,
115 IIT
136, 145
Numbers which are the sum of two squares, 127130 Numbers wliich are the sum of three squares, 130131 Numbers as the sum of four squares, 131132
dpyavQaai, 136
approximation
\(yyi.<jTLKr]
to,
IIT
120
Oughtred, 78
and
apidfiy^TiKT], 18,
137
140
139
117
146
wpiafiivoi apidfjLol,
77.
Lousada, Miss Abigail, 56
Lnca
Pacioli, 43, TO n.
Lucilius, 9
Pappos, 11, 12, 17, 65

Trapio-OTTji
71.,
or
irapiffOTrrros ayoyy-ri,
" Majuskelcursive " writing, 64, T2

mal, Tin., 157, 158
71.
120
Pcletarius, James, 2, 43
Pell,
Manuscripts of Diophantos, 19, 61
John, 56
Maximus Planudes,
Meibomius, 14
Metrodoros, 10
7n(n!,
23, 38, 39, 51, 135
Perron, Cardinal, 20
Phaidros, 14, 15
TrXaffficLTiKOv,
169
n.
Diophantos' sign
Bombelli's, 45
;
for,
66
/;.,
71
Plato, 18,
141142, 145
93
71.
73
Tartaglia'6,78 h.;
TrXijôs, coefficient, 2)lus,
Mohammed
for,
ibn Miisfi's expression
Diophantos' expression
71.
;
of,
71,
151
bij
137
Bombelli's s^-mbol
for,
45
Minus vniltipUed
minus gives plus,
Vieta's, 78 n.
137, 163 " Minuskclcursive " writing, 64
Pococke,
2, 12,
41
;i.
Polygonal Numbers,
3,
{31
35
and pas-
Mohammed
40
n.,
ibn Miisa Al-Kliarizmi,

92, 134, 148,
sim
Porisms, 18,
59,
149155,
3235,
37,
121125, 210,
156, 158
fxovaSis,
218
;
69
the symbol for, 69

53, 71, 136
Poselger, 55, 120, 124
71.
Montucla,
imtfasxirln,
3, 11,
Powers,
additive
of,
40 u. mukdbala, 92, 149150, 158 vifda, 150

Multiplication,
evolution
Proclus, 142
and multiplicative 7071, 150161
Progression, arithmetical,
;i.
summation
modern
signs for, 78
of,
239240
and
xp6fi\rjfi.a,
irporacris
34
lutqis,
151
n.
5, 10,
Nessehnann,
20, 21, 22, 23, 27,
Ptolemy, Claudius, 9 Pythagoras, 141

Quadratic equation, solution
93,
of,
81, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 44 n., 49, 51 h., 54, 55, 58, 59, TT, T8, T9, 85, 8s, 91 h., 92, lOS, 110, 114, 121, 125, 129 .,
90
140141, 151155;
tbo two
133, 142, 143 n., 144, 145, 140, 147,
roots of, 92,
153155
169
n.,
212
7!.,
242
71.
Nikomachos,
135, 151
6,
14, 15, 10, 38, 05 .,
Radix, 68
Uumu-s, Peter, 10. \\, 15
248
INDEX.
Sursolides, 71
Reduction of determinate equations,

29,
149150
2,
Suter,
20, 21,
Dr Heinrich, 28
:
n., 50,
53 h.
Eegiomontanus, Joannes,
22, 23, 42, 46,
Symbols, algebraic
&c.
see plus, minus,
78
Eeimer, 32
Eelati, 71
tafsir
on Diophantos, 40
6, 7,
Res, 68
Eiccati, Vincenzo, 27 n.
Tannery, Paul,
of,
n.,
10, 13,
14,
15, 16, 133, 139,
142146
Eight-angled triangle: formation

use
115, 127, 128, 155, 156
tanto, Bombelli's use of, 45
in rational numbers, 115, 141, 142

of,
;
Ta'rlkh Hokoma, 41
Tartaglia, 43, 78 n.
ex-
amples,
VI.
pi^rj
APPENDIX,
especially
Book
Theon
of Alexandria, 8 n., 10, 11, 12,
13,38
of Nikomachos, 151
n., 59, 60, 61, 62,
Theon
7576,
of
Smyrna,
6,
135, 142
Eodet, L., 29
91
Thrasyllos, 15
n., 92, 134, 151,
155
ibn Musa,
Thymaridas, 140
Translations of Diophantos, see Chapter
III.
Rosen, editor of
q. V.
Mohammed
Salmasius, Claudius, 19 n., 224 Saunderson, Nicholas, 52 n., 133 Scholia on Diophantos, 38, 39, 135
Schulz, 55 and iwssiMi
Series,
Unknown
quantity and
its
powers in
in
150,
n.,
Diophantos, 5769, 139140;

other writers, 45, 68, 70, 71
151, 157, 158
;
Dioi^hantos' devices
arithmetical;
summation
of,
for
remedying the want of more than

for,
n.,
239240
shai, 150
one sign
ilnapîs,
8082,
89, 179
29
71, 137 n.
n.
" Side-numbers," 142
Usener, Hermann, 12
Variable,
Simultaneous equations, how treated by Diophantos, 80, 89, 113, 140 Sirmondus, Jacobus, 19 n., 20
Square
root,
how
n.
expressed by Dio-
devices for remedying the want of more than one symbol for a, 8082, 89, 179
n.,
phantos, 93
Stevin, 3, 55
Vieta, 52, 68, 78
123124
Vossius,
3,
21
71.,
56
Struve,
Dr
J.
and Dr
L., 142 n.
;
Subsidiary problems, 81, 86

of, 97,
examples
Wallis, 70 71, 138
110, 111
Wopcke, 24,
TartagUa's, 78 n.;
25, 26, 155
Subtraction, Diophantos' symbol for,
66
71.,
7173;
Xylander, 45
51 and passim
Bombelli's, 45
Suidas,
1, 8, 9,
10, 11, 12, 13, 45
Zcmus, 68
Zetetica of Victa, 52
Supersolida, 71
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DIOPHANTOS OF ALEXANDRIA.

CAMBEIDGE UNIVERSITY TRESS WAREHOUSE, AVE

EDITED FOR THE SYNDJC&^^^^XH^ UNIVEPiSITY -^-V3 ^-'-- 3^"\S>.

[All Ei'jhts A'.^.Tc;./.]

clay, m.a. and sox,

AT THK rXIVERSITY PRKSS.

are made, which

be new, with regard

significance of the symbols

necessary to explain the purp(.se of the

the result of the compression of a large

book into a very small space, and claims

place of reference for mathe-

after reading the account of Diophantos'

a desire to see them in actual operation, and,

the several instances of that variety of

peculiar devices which

one of the most prominent of the

brought under general rules and tabulated

a necessary part of the whole, in that there

The Appendix, then, is much in

Diophantos which could not be introduced elsewhere

however, be considered as in any sense an alternative to

the rest of the

book: indeed, owing

even be comprehensible to the mathematician.

have twice carefully worked out the

every problem from

proof-sheets, so that I hope and

be found to have escaped me.

would be mere tautology to enter into further

One remark, however,

what the work does

and does not

not be out of place.

treatment of Diophantos could be complete without a

thorough revision of the

I have, however, only cursorily

author, that in the Bodleian Library,

which unfortunately contains no more than a small part of

of the six Books.

best Mss, are in Paris and

have had as yet no opportunity of would be a serious drawback

were I editing the

collation of MSS. could afifect

Diophantos' methods, or the solutions of his

problems, to any appreciable extent; and, further,

than doubtful, in view of the unsatisfactory results of the

did not gladly embrace

acknowledging the encouragement which

I have received from

of Trinity College, to whose prospective interest in the

was begun, and unvarying kindness while

thankfully look back as having been

in a great degree the "

wish to thank the Syndics of the University Press

for their liberality in

undertaking to publish the volume.

SO FAR AS THEY CON'CERN OK AUK ISKFIL