Niccolo Fontana Tartaglia (1500 - 1557)

[The poem in which he revealed the secret of solving the cubic to Cardan]

When the cube and the things together
Are equal to some discrete number, ^*
Find two other numbers differing in this one.
Then you will keep this as a habit
That their product shall always be equal
Exactly to the cube of a third of the things. ^**
The remainder then as a general rule
Of their cube roots subtracted
Will be equal to your principal thing. ^***

^*   [Solve x³ + cx = d]
^**  [Find u, v such that u - v = d and uv = (c/3)³ ]
^*** [Then x = ³√u - ³√v ]

Another quotation by one of today's mathematicians

JOC/EFR January 2013 The URL of this page is:	School of Mathematics and Statistics University of St Andrews, Scotland
http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/history/Day_files/Day1213.html