Reading Bombelli

DOI10.1007/BF03025306MaRDI QIDQ697106zbMATH OpenOpenAlexWikidataFDO

Authors Federica La Nave, Barry Mazur

Publication date 16 September 2002

Published in The Mathematical Intelligencer (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://doi.org/10.1007/bf03025306

zbMATH Keywords

Cardano complex numbers cubic equation cubic radicals Ferrari irreducible cast trisection of angles

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

History of mathematics in the 15th and 16th centuries, Renaissance (01A40) Bibliographic studies (01A90)

Review text

The authors do not present an analysis of the whole of Rafael Bombelli's L'Algebra (1572), but focus on one mere aspect, i.e. the cubic equation. Indeed, Bombelli's theory of the complex numbers is closely related to the solution of the cubic equation, in contrast to Cardano whose discussion of complex numbers has its origin in the quadratic equations. Of course, also the irreducible cast is explained and set out. Bombelli was also engaged with the trisection of angles and presents a neusis-construction. Further there is given a translation of Bombelli's preface as well as a glossary. It is not true that Bombelli's Algebra is the first long treatise on mathematics written in Italian (p. 13): Tartaglia has published some of his works in Italian, and even the language of the so-called Treviso-Arithmetic from 1478 is Italian.

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