210-290

Greek Mathematician

The work of Diophantus is particularly remarkable in light of the time in which it took place. By his era, in the third century A.D., the Roman Empire—of which his hometown, the Greek city of Alexandria in Egypt, was a part—had long since entered its slow decline. Little in the way of original mathematical work took place during this period, yet in his Arithmetica, Diophantus explored the frontiers of mathematics. This new, abstract arithmetic involved the use of special symbols, and centuries later it would come to be known as algebra.

From a sixth century Greek collection of brainteasers comes this one, concerning Diophantus: "...his boyhood lasted 1/6th of his life; he married after 1/7th more; his beard grew after 1/12th more; and his son was born five years later; the son lived to half his father's age...