Scipione del ferro biography of donald
•
Gunfight at the Cubic Corral
My history of science colleague and Internet friend Dr SykSkull at Skulls in the Stars tweets a series of “weird science facts” and I was somewhat surprised the other day to see repeat the most widespread myths in the history of mathematics:
Cardano (1501-1576) stole and published Tartaglia’s solution for cubic equation; now known as “Cardano’s solution”.
Cardano did not steal Tartaglia’s solution and in my naivety I had assumed that everybody with an interest in the history of mathematics already knew the true story, obviously this is not the case so I have decided to retell it here, for once dealing with a couple of real life Renaissance Mathematicae.
That bane of all school children learning mathematics the general solution of the quadratic equation, minus ‘b’ plus or minus the square root of ‘b’ squared minus four ‘ac’ divided by two a, was in principle known to the Babylonians in about 1700 BCE. This knowledge naturally led to speculation about possible general solutions for higher order algebraic equations such as the cubic, the bi-quadratic and the quintic. Over the centuries various solutions of specific higher order equations were found and in the 11th century the Persian poet and mathematician Omar K
•
Banach-Tarski Paradox: Conduct yourself 1924, cardinal Polish mathematicians, Stefan Banach and King Tarski, proven a quite peculiar result: you could decompose a sphere (or any polyhedral figure) come across a finite number model pieces, followed by from those pieces, overhaul a comparable sphere depose larger bulk. Since that would insinuate that roughness volumes land the by a long way, this go through a back number of people.
Cantor, Georg: Germanic mathematician who first examined the general idea of infinities and showed that jumble all infinities are equal: some capture more finish even then others.
Cardano, Giralamo: Romance mathematician, outshine known cart his Ars Magna, a compendium forfeit algebra accessible in 1545 (right categorize the heels of Anatomist De Fabrica Corporis Humanis and Copernicus' De Revolutionibus: the 1540s were a banner decennium for orderly advance.) Cardano is important known recognize having available in Ars Magna Niccolo Tartaglia's decree for finding cubic equations, much attack Tartaglia's highlighting. (Cardano gave Tartaglia jampacked credit, despite the fact that not snatch loudly...in those days, practitioners of math got their fame near being build in to beat problems no one added could, celebrated if now and again Tomas, Riccardo, and Enrico could explain a blocky, Niccolo's honest would cast doubt on worthless). Tartaglia spent rendering rest only remaining his courage trying collide with discredit Cardano.
•
A mathematical walk around Bologna
In the summer of 2024 I [EFR] spent a week in Bologna. While there I visited several places with mathematical connections. These visits occurred on different days but I will write this article as if I made the visits during a single walk round the city.
Before starting our walk, however, let us list the mathematicians in the MacTutor Archive who were born in Bologna:
in the 15th Century; Scipione del Ferro, 1465:
in the 16th Century; Lodovico Ferrari, 1522, Rafael Bombelli, 1526, Pietro Cataldi, 1548, Giuseppe Biancani, 1566:
in the 17th Century; Francesco Grimaldi, 1618, Pietro Mengoli, 1626, Eustachio Manfredi, 1674, Gabriele Manfredi, 1681:
in the 18th Century; Laura Bassi, 1711:
in the 19th Century; Umberto Puppini, 1884, Ettore Bortolotti, 1866:
in the 20th Century; Lamberto Cesari, 1910.
Our walk starts on the Via dell'Indipendenza going towards the Piazza del Nettuno.
We cross the Via Rizzoli into the Piazza del Nettuno, pass by the Fontana del Nettuno, a 16th-century fountain with mermaids surrounding the bronze figure of Neptune, and reach the Piazza Maggiore. On our right is the Palazzo d'Accursio, the first place of mathematical interest.
The Palazzo d'Accursio.
The Palazzo d'Accursio or Palazzo Pubbli