Practicing algebra in late antiquity: The problem-solving of Diophantus of Alexandria

Medieval algebra is distinguished from other arithmetical problem-solving techniques by its structure and technical vocabulary. In an algebraic solution one or several unknowns are named, and via operations on the unknowns the problem is transferred to the artificial setting of an equation expressed in terms of the named powers, which is then simplified and solved. In this article we examine Diophantus? Arithmetica from this perspective. We find that indeed Diophantus? method matches medieval algebra in both vocabulary and structure. Just as we see in medieval Arabic and Italian algebra, Diophantus worked out the operations expressed in the enunciation of a problem prior to setting up a polynomial equation. Further, his polynomials were regarded as aggregations with no operations present.     

Tracing the early history of algebra: Testimonies on Diophantus in the Greek-speaking world (4th–7th century CE)

The transmission and reception of the mathesis carried by Diophantus' Arithmetica has not attracted much attention among historians of Greek mathematics, who have devoted their scholarly activity almost exclusively to questions about the proper understanding of the character of the mathematical undertaking of the Alexandrian mathematician. As a result, the common belief is that Diophantus' Arithmetica is presented as an isolated, and thus uncontextualized phenomenon in the history of ancient Greek mathematics. The aim of this paper is to investigate testimonies and other piece of evidence suggesting that Diophantus' heritage was present in intellectual milieus of the Greek-speaking world during the late antique and early medieval times. Special emphasis is given to a number of scholia to the arithmetical epigrams of the Palatine Anthology which witness the persistence of the method of problem solving taught by Diophantus in the late antique world.     

Method, certainty and trust across disciplinary boundaries

This paper starts from some observations about Presmeg’s paper ‘Mathematics education research embracing arts and sciences’ also published in this issue. The main topics discussed here are disciplinary boundaries, method and, briefly, certainty and trust. Specific interdisciplinary examples of work come from the history of mathematics (Diophantus’s Arithmetica), from linguistics (hedging, in relation to Toulmin’s argumentation scheme and Peirce’s notion of abduction) and from contemporary poetry and poetics.     

Some remarks on the meaning of equality in Diophantos’s Arithmetica

Diophantos in Arithmetica, without having defined previously any concept of “equality” or “equation,” employs a concept of the unknown number as a tool for solving problems and finds its value from an equality ad hoc created. In this paper we analyze Diophantos’s practices in the creation and simplification of such equalities, aiming to adduce more evidence on certain issues arising in recent historical research on the meaning of the “equation” in Diophantos’s work.     

Arithmetical rank of binomial ideals

In this paper, we investigate the arithmetical rank of a binomial ideal J. We provide lower bounds for the binomial arithmetical rank and the J-complete arithmetical rank of J. Special attention is paid to the case where J is the binomial edge ideal of a graph. We compute the arithmetical rank of such an ideal in various cases.     

Local conjugacy classes for analytic torus flows

If a real-analytic flow on the multidimensional torus close enough to linear has a unique rotation vector which satisfies an arithmetical condition Y, then it is analytically conjugate to linear. We show this by proving that the orbit under renormalization of a constant Y-vector field attracts all nearby orbits with the same rotation vector.     

Algebra in Roth,Faulhaber, and Descartes

Descartes' “multiplicative” theory of equations in the Géométrie (1637) systematically treats equations as polynomials set equal to zero, bringing out relations between equations, roots, and polynomial factors. We here consider this theory as a response to Peter Roth's suggestions in Arithmetica Philosophica (1608), notably in his “seventh-degree” problem set. These specimens of arithmetic-masterly problem design develop skills with multiplicative and other degree-independent techniques. The challenges were fine-tuned by introducing errors disguised as printing errors. During Descartes' visit to Germany in 1619–1622, he probably worked with Johann Faulhaber (1580–1635) on these problems; they are discussed in Faulhaber's Miracula Arithmetica (1622), which also looks forward to fuller publication, probably by Descartes.     

The main sources for the Arte Mayor in sixteenth century Spain

One of the main changes in European Renaissance mathematics was the progressive development of algebra from practical arithmetic, in which equations and operations began to be written with abbreviations and symbols, rather than in the rhetorical way found in earlier arithmetical texts. In Spain, the introduction of algebraic procedures was mainly achieved through certain commercial or arithmetical texts, in which a section was devoted to algebra or the ‘Arte Mayor’. This paper deals with the contents of the first arithmetical texts containing sections on algebra. These allow us to determine how algebraic ideas were introduced into Spain and what their main sources were. The first printed arithmetical Spanish text containing algebra was the Libro primero de Arithmetica Algebratica (1552) by Marco Aurel. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to analyse the possible sources of this book and show the major influence of the German text Coss (1525) by Christoff Rudolff, on Aurel's work.     

A Brief History of Algebraic Notation

This paper traces three major stages in the development of algebraic notation: rhetorical or prose, syncopated, and symbolic. The. development of algebra began in Babylonia and Egypt around 1700 BC. Examples of rhetorical algebra by al‐Khowârizmî are used to illustrate potential difficulties that arise when algebraic problems are worked using words without symbols. Greek mathematician Diophantus was one of the pioneers of syncopated algebra. In this stage of notation, some shorthand was used along with prose. Indian mathematicians developed a syncopated algebraic notation independently of Diophantus. Around 1500 BC, symbolic algebra began to develop. The process of the development of a standardized, efficient symbol system is illustrated by tracing the evolution of some common symbols, including the symbols for equals, addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.     

Norm statistics and the complexity of clustering problems

In this paper we introduce a new class of clustering problems. These are similar to certain classical problems but involve a novel combination of ?_p-statistics and ?_q norms. We discuss a real world application in which the case p=2 and q=1 arises in a natural way. We show that, even for one dimension, such problems are NP-hard, which is surprising because the same 1-dimensional problems for the ‘pure’ ?₂-statistic and ?₂ norm are known to satisfy a ‘string property’ and can be solved in polynomial time. We generalize the string property for the case p=q. The string property need not hold when q≤p−1 and we show that instances may be constructed, for which the best solution satisfying the string property does arbitrarily poorly. We state some open problems and conjectures.     

The multi-terminal maximum-flow network-interdiction problem

This paper defines and studies the multi-terminal maximum-flow network-interdiction problem (MTNIP) in which a network user attempts to maximize flow in a network among K ? 3 pre-specified node groups while an interdictor uses limited resources to interdict network arcs to minimize this maximum flow. The paper proposes an exact (MTNIP-E) and an approximating model (MPNIM) to solve this NP-hard problem and presents computational results to compare the models. MTNIP-E is obtained by first formulating MTNIP as bi-level min-max program and then converting it into a mixed integer program where the flow is explicitly minimized. MPNIM is binary-integer program that does not minimize the flow directly. It partitions the node set into disjoint subsets such that each node group is in a different subset and minimizes the sum of the arc capacities crossing between different subsets. Computational results show that MPNIM can solve all instances in a few seconds while MTNIP-E cannot solve about one third of the problems in 24 hour. The optimal objective function values of both models are equal to each other for some problems while they differ from each other as much as 46.2% in the worst case. However, when the post-interdiction flow capacity incurred by the solution of MPNIM is computed and compared to the objective value of MTNIP-E, the largest difference is only 7.90% implying that MPNIM may be a very good approximation to MTNIP-E.     

Distinguishing Features of Mechanical and Human Problem-Solving

Over the years, research in mathematical problem-solving has examined expert/novice problem-solving performance on various types of problems and subjects. In particular, DeFranco examined two groups of Ph.D. mathematicians as they solved four mathematics problems and found that although all were content experts, only one group were problem-solving experts. Based on this study, this article posits the notion that one distinguishing feature between experts and novices is that experts tend to look for special features of a problem and use algorithms only as a “fail-safe” system while novices act like “machines” relying on algorithms to solve the problems. Why? The article explores the idea that novice problem solvers learned to solve problems the way they learned proof, that is, in a formal, abstract and mechanizable way. Beliefs about proof and the culture in which it is practiced help frame a mathematician's view of the discipline and ultimately impacts classroom practice. The authors believe that current classroom instruction tends to create a culture that fosters algorithmic proficiency and a “machine-like” approach to the learning of mathematics and problem-solving. Further, they argue that mathematicians need to be aware of the distinction between knowing a proof is true and explaining why it is true. When these distinctions are appreciated and practiced during classroom instruction, then and only then will students begin to acquire the mathematical knowledge to become better problem solvers.     

A hybrid three-stage flowshop problem: Efficient heuristics to minimize makespan

We treat a problem of scheduling n jobs on a three stages hybrid flowshop of particular structure (one machine in the first and third stages and two dedicated machines in stage two). The objective is to minimize the makespan. This problem is NP-complete. We propose two heuristic procedures to cope with realistic problems. Extensive experimentation with various problem sizes are conducted and the computational results show excellent performance of the proposed heuristics.     

Multidimensional Farey partitions

The linear action of SL(n, ?₊) induces lattice partitions on the (n − 1)-dimensional simplex †n−1. The notion of Farey partition raises naturally from a matricial interpretation of the arithmetical Farey sequence of order r. Such sequence is unique and, consequently, the Farey partition of order r on A 1 is unique. In higher dimension no generalized Farey partition is unique. Nevertheless in dimension 3 the number of triangles in the various generalized Farey partitions is always the same which fails to be true in dimension n > 3. Concerning Diophantine approximations, it turns out that the vertices of an n-dimensional Farey partition of order r are the radial projections of the lattice points in ?₊ⁿ ∩ [0, r]ⁿ whose coordinates are relatively prime. Moreover, we obtain sequences of multidimensional Farey partitions which converge pointwisely.     

Completing Diophantus, De polygonis numeris, prop. 5

The last proposition of Diophantus’ De polygonis numeris, inquiring the number of ways that a number can be polygonal and apparently aiming at “simplifying” the definitory relation established by Diophantus himself, is incomplete. Past completions of this proposition are reported in detail and discussed, and a new route to a “simplified” relation is proposed, simpler, more transparent and more “Greek looking” than the others. The issue of the application of such a simplified relation to solving the problem set out by Diophantus is also discussed in full detail.     

Multiple Neutral Data Fitting

A method is proposed for estimating the relationship between a number of variables; this differs from regression where the emphasis is on predicting one of the variables. Regression assumes that only one of the variables has error or natural variability, whereas our technique does not make this assumption; instead, it treats all variables in the same way and produces models which are units invariant – this is important for ensuring physically meaningful relationships. It is thus superior to orthogonal regression in that it does not suffer from being scale-dependent. We show that the solution to the estimation problem is a unique and global optimum. For two variables the method has appeared under different names in various disciplines, with two Nobel laureates having published work on it.     

On arithmetic complexity of certain constructive logics

A constructive arithmetical theory is an arbitrary set of closed arithmetical formulas that is closed with respect to derivability in an intuitionsitic arithmetic with the Markov principle and the formal Church thesis. For each arithmetical theory T there is a corresponding logic L(T) consisting of closed predicate formulas in which all arithmetic instances belong to T. For so-called internally enumerable constructive arithmetical theories with the property of existentiality, it is proved that the logic L(T) is II₁ ^T -@#@ complete. This implies, for example, that the logic of traditional constructivism is II₂ ⁰-complete.Translated from Matematicheskie Zametki, Vol. 52, No. 1, pp. 94–104, July, 1992.     

Bifurcation phenomena for nonlinear superdiffusive Neumann equations of logistic type

We consider a nonlinear Neumann logistic equation driven by the p-Laplacian with a general Carathéodory superdiffusive reaction. We are looking for positive solutions of such problems. Using minimax methods from critical point theory together with suitable truncation techniques, we show that the equation exhibits a bifurcation phenomenon with respect to the parameter λ > 0. Namely, we show that there is a λ_* > 0 such that for λ < λ_*, the problem has no positive solution; for λ = λ_*, it has at least one positive solution; and for λ > λ_*, it has at least two positive solutions.     

Arithmetical and specular self-reference

Arithmetical self-reference through diagonalization is compared with self-recognition in a mirror, in a series of diagrams that show the structure and main stages of construction of self-referential sentences. A Gödel code is compared with a mirror, Gödel numbers with mirror images, numerical reference to arithmetical formulas with using a mirror to see things indirectly, self-reference with looking at one’s own image, and arithmetical provability of self-reference with recognition of the mirror image. The comparison turns arithmetical self-reference into an idealized model of self-recognition and the conception(s) of self based on that capacity.     

Bi-criteria scheduling problems: Number of tardy jobs and maximum weighted tardiness

Consider a single machine and a set of n jobs that are available for processing at time 0. Job j has a processing time p_j, a due date d_j and a weight w_j. We consider bi-criteria scheduling problems involving the maximum weighted tardiness and the number of tardy jobs. We give NP-hardness proofs for the scheduling problems when either one of the two criteria is the primary criterion and the other one is the secondary criterion. These results answer two open questions posed by Lee and Vairaktarakis in 1993. We consider complexity relationships between the various problems, give polynomial-time algorithms for some special cases, and propose fast heuristics for the general case. The effectiveness of the heuristics is measured by empirical study. Our results show that one heuristic performs extremely well compared to optimal solutions.