A253810 The life of Diophantus.

0, 14, 21, 33, 38, 80, 84

Offset

0,2

Comments

From the riddle on the tombstone of Diophantus. See the reference and the links.

References

H.-W. Alten et al., 4000 Jahre Algebra, 2. Auflage, Springer, 2014, p. 63.

Links

Table of n, a(n) for n=0..6.

David Pleacher, Diophantus' epitaph.

Eric Weisstein's World of Mathematics, Diophantus's Riddle.

Wikipedia, Diophantus.

Formula

a(0): birth (all numbers a(n) in years), a(1): boyhood ended, a(2): beard started to grow, a(3): marriage, a(4): birth of son, a(5): death of son, a(6): death of Diophantus.

Example

a(1) = age/6,
a(2) = age*(1/6 + 1/12) = age/4,
a(3) = age*(1/4 + 1/7) = age*11/28,
a(4) = age*11/28 + 5,
a(5) = age(11/28 + 1/2) + 5 = age*25/28 + 5,
a(6) = age*25/28 + 5 + 4 = age,
hence age*(1-25/28) = 9, age = 28*3 = 84.

Crossrefs

Sequence in context: A240593 A121495 A263990 * A084995 A100466 A100467

Adjacent sequences: A253807 A253808 A253809 * A253811 A253812 A253813

Keyword

nonn,fini,full

Author

Wolfdieter Lang, Jan 31 2015

Status

approved