Practicing algebra in Late Antiquity: the problem-solving of Diophantus of Alexandria (Q391331): Difference between revisions

The aim of this important paper is to show that Diophantus practiced \textit{algebra}. Various methods were designed by medieval Arabic mathematicians, to find unknown quantities, such as \textit{al-jabr}, single false position, double false position, analysis. The actual solutions to problems in both Arabic and Italian texts ``are characterized by their structure and technical vocabulary'', and ``the solutions to problems in Diophantus' \textit{Arithmetica} exhibit this very same structure with an equivalent vocabulary. In both Diophantus and in Arabic algebra special terms designate the powers of the unknown, and it is in the context of these terms that algebraic solutions unfold. A solution entails \textit{naming} a sought-after number (or numbers) according to these terms. The required operations are performed on these terms to yield an \textit{equation}, which is then simplified and solved.'' The authors also find differences between the different methods employed, the ``most notable'' of which ``is Diophantus' rich arsenal of techniques for transferring problems to an algebraic setting, thus almost always yielding two-term equations.'' ``It is no wonder, then, that Diophantus was recognized as an algebraist both times his work was read in a new cultural environment, first in Arabic, as witnessed in the texts of Qusṭa ibn Lūqā and al-Karajī, and later in Italian by Regiomontanus and Bombelli.'' The paper ends with a table offering a face-to-face comparison of the methods of solving a problem of the type ``To divide the given number into two numbers and to find a square which, when it lacks each of the two, makes a square. Let it be prescribed again to divide the 20 into two numbers'' (Problem II.15 in Diophantus' \textit{Arithmetica}) by Diophantus, by al-Karajī in \textit{al-Fakhri}, Problem III.44, and by Bombelli in \textit{L'algebra} (1572), Problem lxx. The authors find that similar thoughts were expressed in the now forgotten [\textit{E. Bortolotti}, Osiris, Bruges, 1, 184--230 (1936; JFM 62.0007.03)].