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Cubic Equation
In algebra, a cubic equation in one variable is an equation of the form :ax^3+bx^2+cx+d=0 in which is nonzero. The solutions of this equation are called roots of the cubic function defined by the left-hand side of the equation. If all of the coefficients , , , and of the cubic equation are real numbers, then it has at least one real root (this is true for all odd-degree polynomial functions). All of the roots of the cubic equation can be found by the following means: * algebraically, that is, they can be expressed by a cubic formula involving the four coefficients, the four basic arithmetic operations and th roots (radicals). (This is also true of quadratic (second-degree) and quartic (fourth-degree) equations, but not of higher-degree equations, by the Abel–Ruffini theorem.) * trigonometrically * numerical approximations of the roots can be found using root-finding algorithms such as Newton's method. The coefficients do not need to be real numbers. Much of what is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Newton's Method
In numerical analysis, Newton's method, also known as the Newton–Raphson method, named after Isaac Newton and Joseph Raphson, is a root-finding algorithm which produces successively better approximations to the roots (or zeroes) of a real-valued function. The most basic version starts with a single-variable function defined for a real variable , the function's derivative , and an initial guess for a root of . If the function satisfies sufficient assumptions and the initial guess is close, then :x_ = x_0 - \frac is a better approximation of the root than . Geometrically, is the intersection of the -axis and the tangent of the graph of at : that is, the improved guess is the unique root of the linear approximation at the initial point. The process is repeated as :x_ = x_n - \frac until a sufficiently precise value is reached. This algorithm is first in the class of Householder's methods, succeeded by Halley's method. The method can also be extended to complex functions an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Diophantus
Diophantus of Alexandria ( grc, Διόφαντος ὁ Ἀλεξανδρεύς; born probably sometime between AD 200 and 214; died around the age of 84, probably sometime between AD 284 and 298) was an Alexandrian mathematician, who was the author of a series of books called '' Arithmetica'', many of which are now lost. His texts deal with solving algebraic equations. Diophantine equations ("Diophantine geometry") and Diophantine approximations are important areas of mathematical research. Diophantus coined the term παρισότης (parisotes) to refer to an approximate equality. This term was rendered as ''adaequalitas'' in Latin, and became the technique of adequality developed by Pierre de Fermat to find maxima for functions and tangent lines to curves. Diophantus was the first Greek mathematician who recognized fractions as numbers; thus he allowed positive rational numbers for the coefficients and solutions. In modern use, Diophantine equations are usually algebraic equ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Greek Mathematics
Greek mathematics refers to mathematics texts and ideas stemming from the Archaic through the Hellenistic and Roman periods, mostly extant from the 7th century BC to the 4th century AD, around the shores of the Eastern Mediterranean. Greek mathematicians lived in cities spread over the entire Eastern Mediterranean from Italy to North Africa but were united by Greek culture and the Greek language. The word "mathematics" itself derives from the grc, , máthēma , meaning "subject of instruction". The study of mathematics for its own sake and the use of generalized mathematical theories and proofs is an important difference between Greek mathematics and those of preceding civilizations. Origins of Greek mathematics The origin of Greek mathematics is not well documented. The earliest advanced civilizations in Greece and in Europe were the Minoan and later Mycenaean civilizations, both of which flourished during the 2nd millennium BCE. While these civilizations possessed writing and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Liu Hui
Liu Hui () was a Chinese mathematician who published a commentary in 263 CE on ''Jiu Zhang Suan Shu (The Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art).'' He was a descendant of the Marquis of Zixiang of the Eastern Han dynasty and lived in the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period (220-280 CE) of China. His major contributions as recorded in his commentary on ''The Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art'' include a proof of the Pythagorean theorem, theorems in solid geometry, an improvement on Archimedes's approximation of , and a systematic method of solving linear equations in several unknowns. In his other work, ''Haidao Suanjing (The Sea Island Mathematical Manual)'', he wrote about geometrical problems and their application to surveying. He probably visited Luoyang, where he measured the sun's shadow. Mathematical work Liu Hui expressed mathematical results in the form of decimal fractions that utilized metrological units (i.e., related units of length with base 10 s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chinese Mathematics
Mathematics in China emerged independently by the 11th century BCE. The Chinese independently developed a real number system that includes significantly large and negative numbers, more than one numeral system ( base 2 and base 10), algebra, geometry, number theory and trigonometry. Since the Han Dynasty, as diophantine approximation being a prominent numerical method, the Chinese made substantial progress on polynomial evaluation. Algorithms like regula falsi and expressions like continued fractions are widely used and have been well-documented ever-since. They deliberately find the principal ''n''th root of positive numbers and the roots of equations. The major texts from the period, ''The Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art'' and the ''Book on Numbers and Computation'' gave detailed processes for solving various mathematical problems in daily life. All procedures were computed using a counting board in both texts, and they included inverse elements as well as Euclidean divi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Nine Chapters On The Mathematical Art
''The Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art'' () is a Chinese mathematics book, composed by several generations of scholars from the 10th–2nd century BCE, its latest stage being from the 2nd century CE. This book is one of the earliest surviving mathematical texts from China, the first being '' Suan shu shu'' (202 BCE – 186 BCE) and ''Zhoubi Suanjing'' (compiled throughout the Han until the late 2nd century CE). It lays out an approach to mathematics that centres on finding the most general methods of solving problems, which may be contrasted with the approach common to ancient Greek mathematicians, who tended to deduce propositions from an initial set of axioms. Entries in the book usually take the form of a statement of a problem, followed by the statement of the solution and an explanation of the procedure that led to the solution. These were commented on by Liu Hui in the 3rd century. History Original book The full title of ''The Nine Chapters on the Mathemat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Compass And Straightedge Construction
In geometry, straightedge-and-compass construction – also known as ruler-and-compass construction, Euclidean construction, or classical construction – is the construction of lengths, angles, and other geometric figures using only an idealized ruler and a pair of compasses. The idealized ruler, known as a straightedge, is assumed to be infinite in length, have only one edge, and no markings on it. The compass is assumed to have no maximum or minimum radius, and is assumed to "collapse" when lifted from the page, so may not be directly used to transfer distances. (This is an unimportant restriction since, using a multi-step procedure, a distance can be transferred even with a collapsing compass; see compass equivalence theorem. Note however that whilst a non-collapsing compass held against a straightedge might seem to be equivalent to marking it, the neusis construction is still impermissible and this is what unmarked really means: see Markable rulers below.) More formally, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hippocrates Of Chios
Hippocrates of Chios ( grc-gre, Ἱπποκράτης ὁ Χῖος; c. 470 – c. 410 BC) was an ancient Greek mathematician, geometer, and astronomer. He was born on the isle of Chios, where he was originally a merchant. After some misadventures (he was robbed by either pirates or fraudulent customs officials) he went to Athens, possibly for litigation, where he became a leading mathematician. On Chios, Hippocrates may have been a pupil of the mathematician and astronomer Oenopides of Chios. In his mathematical work there probably was some Pythagorean influence too, perhaps via contacts between Chios and the neighboring island of Samos, a center of Pythagorean thinking: Hippocrates has been described as a 'para-Pythagorean', a philosophical 'fellow traveler'. "Reduction" arguments such as ''reductio ad absurdum'' argument (or proof by contradiction) have been traced to him, as has the use of power to denote the square of a line.W. W. Rouse Ball, A Short Account of the Hist ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Doubling The Cube
Doubling the cube, also known as the Delian problem, is an ancient geometric problem. Given the edge of a cube, the problem requires the construction of the edge of a second cube whose volume is double that of the first. As with the related problems of squaring the circle and trisecting the angle, doubling the cube is now known to be impossible to construct by using only a compass and straightedge, but even in ancient times solutions were known that employed other tools. The Egyptians, Indians, and particularly the Greeks were aware of the problem and made many futile attempts at solving what they saw as an obstinate but soluble problem. However, the nonexistence of a compass-and-straightedge solution was finally proven by Pierre Wantzel in 1837. In algebraic terms, doubling a unit cube requires the construction of a line segment of length , where ; in other words, , the cube root of two. This is because a cube of side length 1 has a volume of , and a cube of twice that volu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Babylonia
Babylonia (; Akkadian: , ''māt Akkadī'') was an ancient Akkadian-speaking state and cultural area based in the city of Babylon in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq and parts of Syria). It emerged as an Amorite-ruled state c. 1894 BCE. During the reign of Hammurabi and afterwards, Babylonia was called "the country of Akkad" (''Māt Akkadī'' in Akkadian), a deliberate archaism in reference to the previous glory of the Akkadian Empire. It was often involved in rivalry with the older state of Assyria to the north and Elam to the east in Ancient Iran. Babylonia briefly became the major power in the region after Hammurabi ( fl. c. 1792–1752 BCE middle chronology, or c. 1696–1654 BCE, short chronology) created a short-lived empire, succeeding the earlier Akkadian Empire, Third Dynasty of Ur, and Old Assyrian Empire. The Babylonian Empire rapidly fell apart after the death of Hammurabi and reverted to a small kingdom. Like Assyria, the Babylonian state retained ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Birkhäuser
Birkhäuser was a Swiss publisher founded in 1879 by Emil Birkhäuser. It was acquired by Springer Science+Business Media in 1985. Today it is an imprint used by two companies in unrelated fields: * Springer continues to publish science (particularly: history of science, geosciences, computer science) and mathematics books and journals under the Birkhäuser imprint (with a leaf logo) sometimes called Birkhäuser Science. * Birkhäuser Verlag – an architecture and design publishing company was (re)created in 2010 when Springer sold its design and architecture segment to ACTAR. The resulting Spanish-Swiss company was then called ActarBirkhäuser. After a bankruptcy, in 2012 Birkhäuser Verlag was sold again, this time to De Gruyter. Additionally, the Reinach-based printer Birkhäuser+GBC operates independently of the above, being now owned by ''Basler Zeitung''. History The original Swiss publishers program focused on regional literature. In the 1920s the sons of Emil Birkh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
