Ferro

Scipione dal Ferro

Born: 6 Feb 1465 in Bologna, Italy
Died: 5 Nov 1526 in Bologna, Italy

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Scipione dal Ferro lectured at Bologna where he was a colleague of Pacioli. Dal Ferro is the first to solve the cubic equation by radicals. He only solved one of the two cases (the fact that 0 and negative numbers were not in use made many distinct cases). He kept his discovery secret and only told his student Fior shortly before his death. Ferrari reports seeing a notebook in del Ferro's handwriting where the solution is clearly written down.

References elsewhere in this archive:

Tell me about del Ferro's solution of cubic equations

References:

  1. Dictionary of Scientific Biography
  2. L Frati, Scipione dal Ferro, Studi e memorie per la storia dell'Università di Bologna 2 (1911), 193-205. 
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JOC/EFR February 1996