Another question/puzzle i need help with:
Diophantus
The Greek mathmetician Diophantus, who lived in the second century A.D. was the first person to replace unknowns by letters(variables). There is a famous problem that you can use to calculate how long he lived. Diophantus passed one sixth of his life in childhood, one twelfth in youth, and one seventh more as a young bachelor. Five years after his marriage, he had a son who died four years before his father. The son was half the age when he died. How old was Diophantus when he died.
2007-09-09 11:59:20 · 4 answers · asked by jersmine14 2 in Education & Reference ➔ Trivia
x/6 + x/12 + x/7 + 5 + x/2 + 4 = x
25x/28 + 9 = x
25x + 252 / 28 = x
3x = 252
x = 84
He was 84 when he died.
2007-09-09 13:33:21 · answer #1 · answered by lilsweetsarah4 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I'm taking it that the son died at half the age that Diophantus died.
That means that D had lived 39% of his life when he married, and lived nine more years than his son did after that. That means that the nine years is 11% of his life. He died at 84.
2007-09-09 20:13:29 · answer #2 · answered by open4one 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
84
2007-09-12 04:10:15 · answer #3 · answered by darty 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The son was half the age of WHO when he died?
2007-09-09 19:42:27 · answer #4 · answered by dreamgirl 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋