Although this manuscript of 1430 in Occitan is one in the many « algorisms » – these treatises inspired by a lost treatise of Al Khwarizmi – whose objective is to teach calculating and use these calculations in « commercial » situations, he has a great interest in the history of mathematics. As stated in the introduction , it seems that this text is « the first mathematical work in which a negative number is recognized as the solution of a problem ». This type of problem is known for us as indeterminate systems of linear equations, and the author offers in this connection a brief history of the appearance of negative numbers and this type of systems from Diophantus. « Moreover, an elegant construction of rational approximations for the roots of integers leads the author to ask the question of the comparison of two infinite sets whose respective quantities of elements seem to differ ».

Like other ancient texts presenting various arithmetic or algebraic methods to solve « concrete » problems, it is interesting from an educational point of view, by the variety of possible approaches: writing an algorithm inspired by arithmetic resolution, equation and algebraic resolution, generalization …

Note :The Journal of the MAA (Convergence) has put on line a paper on the same subject : Randy K Schwartz, He Advanced Him 200 Lambs of Gold’: The Pamiers Manuscript (July 2012) https://www.maa.org/press/periodicals/convergence/he-advanced-him-200-lambs-of-gold-the-pamiers-manuscript