Vivaan's Blogs

Ahh, math. Such a pity that it has been dulled down into brainless, tedious problems that students toil over for hours at school. In my last blog, I talked about how cubic equations were discovered through mathematical battles — contests where mathematicians challenged each other with problems to see who could solve the most. We also saw how Niccolò Fontana discovered the secret to solving cubic equations and hid the method inside a poem. Well, given the immense popularity of mathematics back then, it was only a matter of time before people learned about Fontana’s discovery. One man in particular, Gerolamo Cardano, took great interest. Cardano was a mathematician, physician, and gambler who immediately recognised the importance of Fontana’s work and set out to uncover his method. Eventually, Cardano confronted Fontana. At first, Fontana refused to share his secret, but Cardano offered to introduce him — a poor and struggling scholar — to a wealthy patron. Fontana finally agreed and ...