The appearance of negative solutions in mediaeval mathematics
Most late mediaeval mathematicians solving simultaneous equations were working with concrete problems and either rejected negative solutions as impossible or, where one was available, provided a plausible interpretation, for instance interpreting a negative amount of money as a debt. In this article the author briefly reviews the general rejection of potential negative solutions in the work of Greek, Indian, Chinese, Arabic, and early mediaeval mathematicians, and then discusses in greater detail some characteristic mediaeval systems of linear equations and the appearance of negative solutions in the work of later mediaeval authors. Leonardo of Pisa (Fibonacci), all of whose problems concern money, accepts negative solutions only when they can be given a plausible positive interpretation, for instance as a debt. The Provencal Compendi del art del algorisme, recently analyzed by the author in Centaurus 27, 26-75 (1984; Zbl 0539.01004), however, finds that one individual involved in buying a piece of cloth has a negative amount of money and makes no comment about this result, confirming its correctness by substituting the solutions found into the original equation. The printed Compendion del abaco by Frances Pellos repeats this same problem and result translated into the dialect of Nice. Nicolas Chuquet extends the acceptance of negative solutions to negative amounts of merchandise and negative prices, and he accepts negative solutions without comment in problems concerning pure numbers, but he says that a ratio is impossible when its presence in an equation leads to division by a negative number. Luca Pacioli calls an abstract problem that leads to a negative solution a bellissimo caso and also admits negative prices, but elsewhere he calls the acceptance of negative results practical and abusive.
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