Studying Mathematics Thread

[Fireball]

I'm most likely going to get back into elementary number theory, as I encountered basic number theory in my study of abstract algebra. Prior to beginning my abstract algebra self-study in early July,  I studied divisibility and primes, which IMO, were very interesting.  In particular, I enjoyed the proof of the fundamental theorem of arithmetic.  Hence, I'm looking forward to learning/getting underneath this material again.

I have Oysteen Ore's book on Number Theory. A friend of mine who also has it was astonished that one of the mathematicians in it solved a Diophantine problem that had (if memory serves me correct) 1260 solutions. He was astonished that the guy had figured it out, as it was done in Arabic and not the Hindu-derived integers. I probably have some of the details wrong, it's been a long time. He went ahead and wrote some FORTRAN code and discovered that there were two more solutions! He then contacted Donald Knuth, who wrote some code in C and came up with the same answer. I have the paper somewhere in my stuff, which may be in storage. But I did find the book, so I can flip through it soon and see if I can find the problem. I worked my way through that book about 15 years or more ago.