50
The exasperating thing about the cubic equation was actually has simple solution: ????=4. But the method
was generating the complicated expression shown here which contains, among other things, a squareroot of a negative number.
Why is the square-root strange? Well, mathematicians had long thought that only positive numbers (and
zero) could have a square-root. For example, since 9×9=81 then the square-root of 81 is 9. The square-root
could also be -9 because ?9×?9=81. Similarly 4 is 2 or -2. There are no numbers, positive or negative, that
when multiplied with itself, gives a negative number. Therefore expressions like ?121 had no sensible
meaning and mathema ???????????????????????????%??????????????????????????????????)??????????%??????????????????I?????? ?????????????????????????????????????????????????)???????????????????????!???????????????????????????????????????????????????????()Q??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????)??????????????????????????????????????????????????]??????????????????????????)?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????q????t????????()%
d?M
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