Episode 39 - Diophantus of Alexandria - A whole lot of fun

2025-09-17

This week, we're taking another trip to ancient Alexandria to meet Diophantus, often hailed as the "Father of Algebra." Join us as we untangle the fuzzy biography of a mathematician whose life story is a riddle, and whose monumental work, the Arithmetica, started us working towards systematic equation-solving. From the proto-symbols of syncopated algebra to the birth of Diophantine equations (where only whole numbers dare to tread!), we explore how this ancient Greek genius sought to generalize mathematical problems, shifting math from "a...

This week, we're taking another trip to ancient Alexandria to meet Diophantus, often hailed as the "Father of Algebra."

Join us as we untangle the fuzzy biography of a mathematician whose life story is a riddle, and whose monumental work, the Arithmetica, started us working towards systematic equation-solving. From the proto-symbols of syncopated algebra to the birth of Diophantine equations (where only whole numbers dare to tread!), we explore how this ancient Greek genius sought to generalize mathematical problems, shifting math from "apples" to "variables."

Keywords: Diophantus, Algebra, Arithmetica, Diophantine Equations, Ancient Greece, Alexandria, History of Mathematics, Number Theory, Equation Solving, Rational Numbers, Integers, Fermat's Last Theorem, Hilbert's 10th Problem, Undecidability, Al-Khwarizmi, Brahmagupta, Cryptography, Computer Science, Podcast.

Hashtags: #MathematiciansPodcast #Diophantus #AlgebraHistory #AncientMaths #NumberTheory #DiophantineEquations #MathsPodcast #STEM #HistoryOfScience #Fermat #HilbertProblems #ProblemSolving #MathsFacts #Alexandria #EquationSolver #MathematicalJourney #ListenAndLearn

The music was-
"Danse Macabre - Finale"
Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

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