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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Cardano and the Solution of the Cubic.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. After Hippocrates, what shape did the Greeks attempt to square without success?
(a) Pentagon.
(b) Circle.
(c) Parallelogram.
(d) Hemisphere.

2. Which of the following is false about the modern implications of Euclid's number theory?
(a) Great mathematicians continue to puzzle over some aspects of Euclid's number theory.
(b) Euclid's recipe for constructing even perfect numbers is incorrect.
(c) Euclid gave a good idea for how to construct even perfect numbers.
(d) Whether there are no odd perfect numbers is still not known.

3. What instruments did the Greeks use to square a shape?
(a) A small grid.
(b) A pendulum.
(c) A compass and a ruled straight-edge.
(d) A sphere and ruler.

4. Which of the following was NOT one of the basic definitions in Elements?
(a) Line.
(b) Parabola.
(c) Straight Line.
(d) Right angles.

5. Why did Cardano take an oath to secrecy?
(a) It was the only way to get his book published.
(b) It was to the only way to win the contest with Fior,
(c) It was the only way he could become a priest,
(d) It was the only way to get Tartaglia's solution to cubic equations.

Short Answer Questions

1. Which mathematician was first to take the challenge to solve cubic equations?

2. Which of the following is an example of a perfect number?

3. "Straight lines in the same plane that will never meet if extended forever" is a definition of what?

4. Heron's work referred to the work of what other famous scholar?

5. Which of the following could NOT be included as a step in Euclid's great theorem?

(see the answer key)

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