Cardano and the Solution of the Cubic Summary and Analysis

Dunham moves ahead to the 15th century. It is a time of discovery and the advancement of knowledge in Europe. In mathematics, Dunham describes the Italian Luca Pacioli, who writes a treatise that includes a supposition that cubic equations may be impossible to solve. Cubic equations are those in the form ax³ + bx² + cx + d = 0.

Pacioli's assessment is taken up as a challenge, Dunham explains. A mathematician named Scipione del Ferro hits upon a method to solve cubic equations by simplifying them into another kind of equation that can be solved. However, Del Ferro does not publish his discovery. Instead he keeps it secret until just prior to his death when he passes it on to a student named Antonio Fior. Fior takes del Ferro's method and challenges another...