Nicoteles of Cyrene

Nicoteles of Cyrene (Greek: Νικοτέλης ὁ Κυρηναῖος) (c. 250 BCE) was a Greek mathematician from Cyrene.

He is mentioned in the preface to Book IV of the Conics of Apollonius, as criticising Conon concerning the maximum number of points with which a conic section can meet another conic section. Apollonius states that Nicoteles claimed that the case in which a conic section meets opposite sections could be solved, but had not demonstrated how.

It is possible that Nicoteles could be a misspelling of Nicomedes.

References

• Fried, M., Unguru, S., Apollonius of Perga's Conica: Text, Context, Subtext, Pages 120, 416-417. BRILL. (2001). ISBN 90-04-11977-9
• Heath, T., The Works of Archimedes, Pages 189-190. (1897). ISBN 0-486-42084-1
• Fuentes González, P. P., Nicotélès de Cyrène, in R. Goulet (ed.), Dictionnaire des Philosophes Antiques, vol. IV, Paris, CNRS, 2005, p. 702-703. ISBN 2-271-06386-8