Book Where to find famous maths books?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around locating a specific edition of Diophantus's Arithmetica that includes Fermat's commentaries. Participants explore historical editions and translations related to this work, as well as the availability of translations into English.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Historical

Main Points Raised

  • One participant seeks a copy of Diophantus's Arithmetica with Fermat's commentaries, expressing difficulty in finding it online.
  • Another participant notes that Fermat's son Samuel published an edition of Diophantus's Arithmetica in 1670, which includes the original Greek text and Latin translations, along with Fermat's commentaries.
  • A later reply questions whether Samuel's publication has been translated into English, indicating uncertainty about the availability of such a translation.
  • Participants mention that while the Arithmetica has been translated multiple times, it is unclear if Fermat's commentaries have been fully translated.
  • One participant references a collection of Fermat's surviving work published in French over a century ago, suggesting that there may be more recent literature on Fermat's mathematical career.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants do not reach a consensus on the availability of an English translation of Samuel's publication or the completeness of translations of Fermat's commentaries.

Contextual Notes

There is uncertainty regarding the existence of complete translations of the composite work and the specific translations of Fermat's commentaries.

AlexVGheo
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Hi,

I have read a lot of mathematics history like S. Hollingdale's Maker's of Mathematics and pop-maths like Simon Singh's Fermat's Last Theorem etc. And from these I found references to other, historic/inspiring, mathematical works like Euclid's Elements and A Mathematician's Apology and so forth which I consequently read, but there is one work that I cannot find on the internet! I want a copy of Diophantus's Arithmatica, moreover I want a copy that has Fermat's commentaries in it...

So my question is where can I find it?
 
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Fermat' son Samuel published an edition of Diophantine's Arithmetica in 1670 after his father's death. This edition contained the text of the Arithmetica in the original Greek with a parallel translation in Latin. Fermat's commentaries are also printed in the text where presumably they were originally found. These commentaries are written in Latin. The edition on which Fermat made his comments was Bachet's, printed in 1621. The actual volume owned by Fermat is now lost, so the 1670 edition printed by his son is the earliest copy containing his father's notations.

A copy of the actual section containing the famous Last Theorem can be seen here:

http://math.wallawalla.edu/conferences/TomAndKen/presentations/outlines/kleiji.pdf
 
Very good, it is exactly the book I was looking for. But does that mean no one has translated Samule's publicationm to English?
 
IDK if anyone has translated the entire composite work. Certainly, the Arithmetica has been translated several times. As for Fermat's scribblings, I'm not sure.

All of Fermat's surviving work was collected and printed in France (in French naturellement) more than a century ago. There is a more recent book about his mathematical career which was printed in 1994.

See:
http://www.springer.com/cda/content/document/cda_downloaddocument/9780817682675-c1.pdf

Specifically, Refs. 26 and 35 at the end.
 

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