Algebra in Roth, Faulhaber, and Descartes (Q2495849)

Hier handelt es sich sowohl um Daten, wann wer -- Peter Roth, Johann Faulhaber, René Descartes -- wen vor allem ab 1619 wissensmäßig beeinflusste, als auch um damalige wesentliche neue Erkenntnisse zur Algebra: Symmetrische Grundfunktionen, Zeichenfolgen, Zeichenwechsel, Polynomzerlegung, Bedeutung des konstanten Koeffizienten usw. Verf. beabsichtigt: ``Rather than try to assign intellectual credit between Faulhaber and Descartes in detail, I here treat this part of \textit{Miracula Arithmetica} as a time capsule containing results of their extended interaction working on Roth's book.'' (p. 187) Folglich geht es ihm -- ``Sixteenth-century Cossists reduced many practical and speculative problems to the problem of finding roots of given polynomials, occasionally ones of quite high degree.'' (p. 187) -- um die beiden um 1600 bedeutenden Fortschritte in der Gleichungslehre: 1) ``One is the general use of powers of multiple simultaneous unknowns''; 2) ``The second ... supplements a traditional `additive' conception of equations by what we call a `multiplicative' conception of equations, a number of considerations based on treating polynomials (in one unknown) as products of ones of lower degree.'' (p. 187) Das Wissen um die symmetrischen Grundfunktionen bei Grad drei stellte sich um 1600 ein. ``Degree independence excited Roth, Faulhaber, and Descartes. Multiplicative conceptions provide a non-trivial theoretical perspective on equations, making their nature clear.'' (p. 189) \textit{Arithmetica Philosophica}, Nürnberg 1608: ``Roth's weak form of the fundamental theorem of algebra suggests he had some grasp of a multiplicative conception of equations. ... Nor does a multiplicative conception emerge from Roth's Second Book, which consists in a complete treatment of Faulhaber's [\textit{Arithmetischer Cubiccossischer Lustgarten}, Ulm 1604] problems.'' (p. 190f.) Zu Grad sieben: ``Roth's equations were therefore obviously constructed by multiplying such factors'', wobei einige Probleme ``would be most tedious indeed if one did not recognize that integral roots as well as constant terms of quadratic factors must evenly divide the constant term of the equation.'' (p. 191) Zur Frage, ob Roth in einzelne Angaben absichtlich Fehler eingebaut hatte: ``Roth thus had a built-in defense that his problems were printed with proper care.'' (p. 192) Faulhaber betrachtete Eliminieren des vorletzten Terms als ein probates Mittel, um an die Lösung von Gleichungen beliebigen Grades zu gelangen. Nach eigenem Bekunden übernahm er von Descartes die sogenannte Vorzeichenregel, wenn auch ungenau, und publizierte sie in seinen \textit{Miracula Arithmetica}, Augsburg 1622, S. 58f. Verf. zeigt auf, wie Faulhaber dort durch Nullsetzen von Faktoren eines Polynoms, durch ``auxiliary equations'' bzw. durch ``auxiliary unknowns'' Gleichungslösungen fand: ``The cost of not somehow making the auxiliary unknown explicit in evaluating the product was, however, that it took a verbal `road map' in addition to the displayed formulas to make the rationale of the factoring procedure clear.'' (p. 196); ``\dots solving two simultaneous higher-degree equations in two unknowns by polynomial elimination ... however, would try the patience of a stone.'' (p. 197) Die Reduktion spezieller Gleichungen vierten Grades durch ``partes aliquotae'' auf Gleichungen dritten Grades lernte Descartes bei Faulhaber in den Miracula Arithmetica, pp. 60-63. Descartes' \textit{Géométrie}, Leiden 1637, führte in etlichem über Roth und Faulhaber hinaus: ``It introduced setting equations equal to zero as default; and stated the rule of signs more cautiously, allowing that there might be fewer than the indicated number of roots.'' (p. 198) Die charakteristische Vorgehensweise Descartes' wird beschrieben. ``Nonetheless, it is hard to miss that each topic in Descartes' theory of equations was already announced in Roth or developed in \textit{Miracula Arithmetica}, or both.'' (p. 198) Nachdem Verf. auch auf mögliche Vorlagen aus dem deutschen Sprachgebiet für Descartes' algebraische Kenntnisse hingewiesen hatte, resümiert er: ``Roth's \textit{Arithmetica Philosophica} brought out for Descartes the multiplicative insights and degree uniformities on equations that he was to systematize and exploit. Viète's work seems not to have been an actual influence on Roth, Faulhaber, or Descartes's mastery of a multiplicative conception of equations.'' (p. 200) Anschließend werden ``Roth's seventh-degree problems'' im Einzelnen -- gemäß einer ``road map'' -- vorgeführt; Verf. geht hierbei nochmals auf die ``Errors in the printed problems'' ein.