Harmonic means and Diophantus I.39 (Q1209767)

In a recent publication, J. Christianidis has pointed to a scholium to Iamblichus's book on Nicomachus which mentions ``the final theorem of the first book of Diophantus's presentation of the elements of arithmetic'' as a place where more can be learnt about harmonic means. Since the last theorem of Arithmetic I (No. 39) does not refer to harmonic means, the conclusion seemed to be that Diophantus had written another work on the elements of arithmetic. In the present publication it is shown that Arithmetica I. 39 is indeed connected to harmonic means, even though they go unmentioned. The theorem tells how to find a third number if two are given, so that the products of the three numbers two by two form an arithmetical series. In all three solutions, the three numbers themselves are in harmonic proportion. In all probability, this is what the scholiast refers to. It may be added that this connection, though not mentioned by Diophantus, is easily observed if one has noticed that the time needed to fill a cistern from two wells in combination (a recreational problem known in Greek logistics) is half the harmonic mean between the times needed to fill it from each of the two wells taken alone.