Claude Gaspar Bachet de Méziriac

'Claude Gaspar Bachet Sieur de Méziriac , and a Latin translation of the Arithmetica of Diophantus (the very translation where Fermat wrote a margin note about Fermat's Last Theorem). He also discovered means of solving indeterminate equations using continued fractions, a method of constructing magic squares, and a proof of Bézout's identity.

Biography Title page of the 1621 edition of Diophantus' Arithmetica, translated into Latin by Claude Gaspard Bachet de Méziriac. leftClaude Gaspar Bachet de Méziriac was born in Bourg-en-Bresse on 9 October 1581. By the time he reached the age of six, both his mother (Marie de Chavanes) and his father (Jean Bachet) had died. He was then looked after by the Jesuit Order. For a year in 1601, Bachet was a member of the Jesuit Order (he left due to an illness).

Bachet wrote the Problèmes plaisans et délectables qui se font par les nombres

He also wrote Les éléments arithmétiques,

Bachet was the earliest writer who discussed the solution of indeterminate equations by means of continued fractions. He also did work in number theory and found a method of constructing magic squares.

He was elected member of the Académie française in 1635.