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    The Cubic Formula

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    braulio.dantas
    This document discusses the cubic formula for solving third degree polynomial equations. The cubic formula, first published by Cardano in 1545, provides a solution in terms of the polynomial's coefficients a, b, c, and d. However, the formula is complex and may involve taking square roots of negative numbers, so it is not typically taught to calculus students. While formulas also exist for fourth degree polynomials and higher, they become increasingly complicated, and in 1826 Abel proved there is no general formula for fifth degree polynomials using only standard functions like addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.

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    The Cubic Formula

    Uploaded by

    braulio.dantas
    65 views2 pages
    This document discusses the cubic formula for solving third degree polynomial equations. The cubic formula, first published by Cardano in 1545, provides a solution in terms of the polynomial's coefficients a, b, c, and d. However, the formula is complex and may involve taking square roots of negative numbers, so it is not typically taught to calculus students. While formulas also exist for fourth degree polynomials and higher, they become increasingly complicated, and in 1826 Abel proved there is no general formula for fifth degree polynomials using only standard functions like addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.

    Original Description:

    Exact Solution of Cubic Polynomial Equation

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    This document discusses the cubic formula for solving third degree polynomial equations. The cubic formula, first published by Cardano in 1545, provides a solution in terms of the polynomial's coefficients a, b, c, and d. However, the formula is complex and may involve taking square roots of negative numbers, so it is not typically taught to calculus students. While formulas also exist for fourth degree polynomials and higher, they become increasingly complicated, and in 1826 Abel proved there is no general formula for fifth degree polynomials using only standard functions like addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    65 views2 pages

    The Cubic Formula

    Uploaded by

    braulio.dantas
    This document discusses the cubic formula for solving third degree polynomial equations. The cubic formula, first published by Cardano in 1545, provides a solution in terms of the polynomial's coefficients a, b, c, and d. However, the formula is complex and may involve taking square roots of negative numbers, so it is not typically taught to calculus students. While formulas also exist for fourth degree polynomials and higher, they become increasingly complicated, and in 1826 Abel proved there is no general formula for fifth degree polynomials using only standard functions like addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 2

    The Cubic Formula

    (Solve Any 3rd Degree Polynomial Equation)


    I'm putting this on the web because some students might nd it interesting. It could easily be
    mentioned in many undergraduate math courses, though it doesn't seem to appear in most
    textbooks used for those courses. None of this material was discovered by me. -- ES
    You should know that the solution of ax
    2
    +bx+c=0 is
    There is an analogous formula for polynomials of degree three: The solution of
    ax
    3
    +bx
    2
    +cx+d=0 is
    (A formula like this was rst published by Cardano in 1545.) Or, more briey,
    x = {q + [q
    2
    + (r-p
    2
    )
    3
    ]
    1/2
    }
    1/3
    + {q - [q
    2
    + (r-p
    2
    )
    3
    ]
    1/2
    }
    1/3
    + p
    where
    p = -b/(3a), q = p
    3
    + (bc-3ad)/(6a
    2
    ), r = c/(3a)
    But I do not recommend that you memorize these formulas.
    Aside from the fact that it's too complicated, there are other reasons why we
    don't teach this formula to calculus students. One reason is that we're trying
    to avoid teaching them about complex numbers. Complex numbers (i.e.,
    treating points on the plane as numbers) are a more advanced topic, best left
    for a more advanced course. But then the only numbers we're allowed to use
    in calculus are real numbers (i.e., the points on the line). That imposes some
    restrictions on us --- for instance, we can't take the square root of a negative
    number. Now, Cardan's formula has the drawback that it may bring such
    square roots into play in intermediate steps of computation, even when those
    numbers do not appear in the problem or its answer.
    For instance, consider the cubic equation x
    3
    -15x-4=0. (This example was
    mentioned by Bombelli in his book in 1572.) That problem has real
    coecients, and it has three real roots for its answers. (Hint: One of the roots
    The Cubic Formula http://www.math.vanderbilt.edu/~schectex/cour...
    1 of 2 20-06-2014 14:40
    is a small positive integer; now can you nd all three roots?) But if we apply
    Cardano's formula to this example, we use a=1, b=0, c=-15, d=-4, and we
    nd that we need to take the square root of -109 in the resulting computation.
    Ultimately, the square roots of negative numbers would cancel out later in the
    computation, but that computation can't be understood by a calculus student
    without additional discussion of complex numbers.
    There is also an analogous formula for polynomials of degree 4, but it's much
    worse to write down; I won't even try here.
    There is no analogous formula for polynomials of degree 5. I don't just mean
    that no one has found the formula yet; I mean that in 1826 Abel proved that
    there cannot be such a formula. The problem is that the functions
    don't do enough of what you need for solving all 5th degree
    equations. (Imagine a calculator that is missing a few buttons; there are some
    kinds of calculations that you can't do on it.) You need at least one more
    function. One such function, for instance, is the inverse of the function
    f(x)=x
    5
    +x. (There are other functions that would also work, and some of them
    are more interesting to mathematicians for various reasons, but I like this one
    because it can be described in fairly elementary terms.) That function,
    together with the functions and addition, subtraction,
    multiplication, and division is enough to give a formula for the solution of the
    general 5th degree polynomial equation in terms of the coecients of the
    polynomial - i.e., the degree 5 analogue of the quadratic formula. But it's
    horribly complicated; I don't even want to think about writing it down.
    The Cubic Formula http://www.math.vanderbilt.edu/~schectex/cour...
    2 of 2 20-06-2014 14:40

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