MATHEMATICIAN

Life
Neoplatonist philosopher who spent some time in Rome studying with Porphyry before moving on to Alexandria, where he studied mathematics with Anatolius. As a teacher in his own school at Apomeina, near his native city of Chalcis in Coele Syria (modern Lebanon), he was immensely influential: his students called him a "divine master". Iamblichus died in Alexandria in 414 AD. He is cited in Proclus and Stobaeus.


Work
His principal work is a collection of mathematical treatises under the general title:

"Encyclopaedia of Pythagoreanism". Of these, the following are extant:

"On the Pythagorean Life"

"On the General Science of Mathematics": Work in 35 chapters. Defines the nature of mathematics and identifies the common principles of mathematical science. Discusses the relation between mathematics and philosophy and the usefulness of mathematics in other arts and sciences.

"On the Arithmetic of Nicomachus": Development and extensive commentary on the work of Nicomachus. Provides valuable information on the work of older mathematicians, e.g. the famous "flower" of Pythagorean philosopher and mathematician Thymaridas, and shows that the Pythagoreans explored equations with unknowns, which they represented by words rather than symbols, as modern algebra does.

"Theological Principles of Arithmetic": Gives the properties of the numbers up to ten, according to the ideas of the Pythagoreans. For example, "the number three is the first odd number and is therefore perfect, for it is the first to indicate a whole that has a beginning, a middle and an end. It represents the plane, and is the first trigonometric number, because 3 = 1+2. In addition, it symbolises the three kinds of triangles, to wit the equilateral, the isosceles and the scalene. It also symbolises the three types of angles: acute, right and obtuse, as well as the three dimensions of time: past, present and future. This book also includes fragments of the writings of Anatolius.

Introduced into Italy by the famous Neoplatonist Gemistus Plethon and his former pupil Cardinal Bessarion in the 15th century, his works had a profound influence on most of the scientists of the Renaissance. For Iamblichus, the science of mathematics "is superior to physics, for it has clarity, scientific precision and unchallengeable certainty".