284

Burton: The History of 6. The First Awakening: Text The McGrawHill

Mathematics: An Fibonacci Companies, 2007
Introduction, Sixth Edition

TheLiber Abaci andLiber Quadratorum 283

Leonardo of Pisa (Fibonacci) (circa 11751250)

(By courtesy of Columbia University, David Eugene

Smith Collection.)

Through considering this problem and others allied to it, Fibonacci was led to write the
Liber Quadratorum (1225).
For some idea of the contents of this remarkable work, let us consider a typical
problem from it. Solve, in the rational numbers, the pair of equations
x 2 + x = u2
,
x 2 x = v2
,
where x , u, and v are unknowns. A solution is obtained by taking any three squares that
are in arithmetic progression, say, the squares a 2 , b2 , and c2 , and letting the common
difference be d . Then
a 2 = b2 d , c 2 = b2 + d .
Fibonacci proposed a solution to the problem by giving x the value b2 /d . For
2
4 2 b2 (b2 + d b2 c2 = bc
x 2 + x = b +b )
,
d 2 = = d2 d
d2
d
2
4 2 b2 (b2 d b2 a 2 = ba
x 2 x = b b .
) d
d2 = = d2
d2
d
The simplest numerical example would be a 2 = 1, b2 = 25, and c2 = 49 (here, the
common difference is 24), and this illustration was furnished by Fibonacci. It leads to the
solution x = 25/24:
x 2 + x = 24
( 35 )2 , ( 5 )2 .
x 2 x = 24
At no time did it seem to occur to Fibonacci that the real question in diophantine analysis
was to find all solutions, not just one.