Nicomedes (mathematician)

Nicomedes (Greek: Νικομήδης; * to 280 BC; † 210 BC) was a Greek mathematician who lived around the turn of the 3rd to the 2nd century BC.

Nicomedes introduced the so-called conchoid of Nicomedes (shell curve), with whose help he was able to solve geometric problems of antiquity. In addition, Nicomedes dealt with the quadrature of the circle.

There are no exact sources to the life data of Nicomedes. However, Nicomedes takes in his writings on the work of Eratosthenes (~ 276/273 BC -194 BC) reference, then he would have about the same time as Eratosthenes or a little later lived. The designation of certain curves as Konchoid - similar in the traditions of Apollonius of Perga (~ 262 BC -190 BC) can be interpreted as a reference to Nicomedes plant, from which is derived the Apollonius at about the same time must have lived as Nicomedes or a little later.