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Quote#Art

The solution of the higher indeterminates depends almost entirely on…

Quote byJames Gow · 1854–1923

Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: A Short History of Greek Mathematics (1884).

English (original)

The solution of the higher indeterminates depends almost entirely on very favourable numerical conditions and his methods are defective. But the extraordinary ability of Diophantus appears rather in the other department of his art, namely the ingenuity with which he reduces every problem to an equation which he is competent to solve.

— James Gow

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