Diophantine Equations

Abstract

Abstract Diophantus worked in Alexandria probably in the middle of the third century AD (some authors suggest early in the second century AD). His six or seven surviving books show that he had a highly developed understanding of many number theoretical problems. These mainly involved the solution of equations in positive integers or positive rational numbers although his methods of working suggest that he was aware of negative numbers. He was one of the first to introduce symbolic notation into mathematics; for example.