 |
Cubic equations were first used by Jaina mathematicians in ancient India sometime between 200 BC and 400 CE.
The Persian mathematician Omar Khayyám (1048–1123) constructed solutions of cubic equations by intersecting a conic section with a circle. He showed how this geometric solution could be used to get a numerical answer by consulting trigonometric tables.
In the early 16th century, the Italian mathematician Scipione del Ferro found a method for solving a class of cubic equations, namely those x3 + mx = n. In fact, all cubic equations can be reduced to this form if we allow m and n to be negative, but negative numbers were not known at that time. Dal Ferro kept his achievement secret until just before his death, when he told his student about it. Tartaglia heard about this and soon found a method himself. He revealed his method to Gerolamo Cardano, who published it in Ars Magna 1545.
Cardano noticed that Tartaglia's method sometimes required him to extract the square root of a negative number. He even included a calculation with these complex numbers in Ars Magna, but he did not really understand it. Rafael Bombelli studied this issue in detail and is therefore often considered as the discoverer of complex numbers.
Other related archives1048, 1123, 1545, 16th century, 200 BC, 400 CE, Chebyshev, Chebyshev polynomial, Gerolamo Cardano, Jaina mathematicians, Lagrange, Linear equation, Omar Khayyám, Persian mathematician, Quadratic equation,
 Adapted from the Wikipedia article "History", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page |
