I was a puzzle to others -- a Neo-Pythagorean living near Jerusalem, claiming to be of Syrian descent, and a proponent of Greek philosophy.

My Introductio Arithmeticae involved two books on mathematics, despite the fact that most people thought I had little mathematical competence.

My focus was the elementary properties of numbers, and even included a multiplication table for 1-10 in my book.

I gave numbers special properties such as better or worse, younger or older, and the ability to have parents and siblings.

Historians now classify my book not as a book on mathematics but a handbook on the elements of mathematics pertinent to Pythagorean philosophy.