HELLENISTIC MATHEMATICS - DIOPHANTUS
Diophantus of Alexandria (c.200-284 CE)
Diophantus was a Hellenistic Greek (or possibly Egyptian, Jewish or even Chaldean) mathematician who lived in Alexandria during the 3rd Century CE. He is sometimes called “the father of algebra”, and wrote an influential series of books called the “Arithmetica”, a collection of algebraic problems which greatly influenced the subsequent development of number theory.
He also made important advances in mathematical notation, and was one of the first mathematicians to introduce symbolism into algebra, using an abridged notation for frequently occurring operations, and an abbreviation for the unknown and for the powers of the unknown. He was perhaps the first to recognize fractions as numbers in their own right, allowing positive rational numbers for the coefficients and solutions of his equations.
Diophantus applied himself to some quite complex algebraic problems, particularly what has since become known as Diophantine Analysis, which deals with finding integer solutions to kinds of problems that lead to equations in several unknowns. Diophantine equations can be defined as polynomial equations with integer coefficients to which only integer solutions are sought.