Brahmagupta · Mathematics
Brahmagupta’s attack on the ‘square-nature’ problem - finding whole-number solutions of Nx² + 1 = y² - through his ingenious method of <em>composition</em>, which builds infinitely many solutions from one, and his taunting challenge problems: number theory of the first rank a millennium before Fermat and Euler.
You learned that Brahmagupta studied the ‘square-nature’ equation Nx² + 1 = y² in whole numbers, invented the method of composition (bhavana) that generates infinitely many solutions from one, solved challenge cases such as 92x² + 1 = y², and thereby did deep number theory long before F…
Leads to Pierre de Fermat.
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