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Topic: Story: Tartaglia, Cardan, and Cubic Equations (Read 900 times) |
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william wu
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Story: Tartaglia, Cardan, and Cubic Equations
« on: May 15th, 2003, 7:57pm » |
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The fascinating story of the mathematician Tartaglia, and his feud with Cardano and Ferrari over revealing the secrets to solving cubic equations algebraically:
http://www-gap.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Tartaglia.html
The article refers to a poem which Tartaglia writes to convey the secrets to Cardan in an encrypted form; this poem is reprinted below:
When the cube and the things together
Are equal to some discrete number, 1
Find two other numbers differing in this one.
Then you will keep this as a habit
That their product shall always be equal
Exactly to the cube of a third of the things. 2
The remainder then as a general rule
Of their cube roots subtracted
Will be equal to your principal thing. 3
- Tartaglia, March 1539
Footnotes:
1 Solve x3 + cx = d
2 Find u, v such that u - v = d and uv = (c/3)3
3 Then x = 3u - 3v
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| « Last Edit: May 15th, 2003, 7:59pm by william wu » |
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