Editing Diophantus (section)

==Biography==
The exact details of Diophantus life are obscure. Although he probably flourished in the third century CE, he may have lived anywhere between 170 BCE, roughly contemporaneous with [[Hypsicles]], the latest author he quotes from, and 350 CE, when [[Theon of Alexandria]] quotes from him.{{sfn|Christianidis|Oaks|2023|pp=4-6}} [[Paul Tannery]] suggested that a reference to an "Anatolius" as a student of Diophantus in the works of [[Michael Psellos]] may refer to the early Christian bishop [[Anatolius of Alexandria]], who may possibly the same Anatolius mentioned by [[Eunapius]] as a teacher of the pagan [[Neopythagorean]] philosopher [[Iamblichus]], either of which would place him in the 3rd century CE.{{sfn|Christianidis|Oaks|2023|pp=4-6}}

The only definitive piece of information about his life is derived from a set of mathematical puzzles attributed to the 5th or 6th century CE grammarian [[Metrodorus (grammarian)|Metrodorus]] preserved in book 14 of the [[Greek Anthology]]. One of the problems (sometimes called Diophantus' epitaph) states:<blockquote>Here lies Diophantus, the wonder behold. Through art algebraic, the stone tells how old: 'God gave him his boyhood one-sixth of his life, One twelfth more as youth while whiskers grew rife; And then yet one-seventh ere marriage begun; In five years there came a bouncing new son. Alas, the dear child of master and sage After attaining half the measure of his father's life chill fate took him. After consoling his fate by the science of numbers for four years, he ended his life.'</blockquote>This puzzle implies that Diophantus' age {{math|''x''}} can be expressed as

:{{math|''x'' {{=}} {{sfrac|''x''|6}} + {{sfrac|''x''|12}} + {{sfrac|''x''|7}} + 5 + {{sfrac|''x''|2}} + 4}}

which gives {{math|''x''}} a value of 84 years. However, the accuracy of the information cannot be confirmed.{{sfn|Christianidis|Oaks|2023|pp=3-4}}