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For example, doubling the cube (the problem of constructing a cube of twice the volume of a given cube) cannot be done using only a straightedge and compass, but Menaechmus showed that the problem can be solved by using the intersections of two parabolas. [19]
Babylonian mathematics is a range of numeric and more advanced mathematical practices in the ancient Near East, written in cuneiform script.Study has historically focused on the Old Babylonian period in the early second millennium BC due to the wealth of data available.
The simplest method for solving a system of linear equations is to repeatedly eliminate variables. This method can be described as follows: In the first equation, solve for one of the variables in terms of the others. Substitute this expression into the remaining equations. This yields a system of equations with one fewer equation and unknown.
His solution gives only one root, even when both roots are positive. [28] The Indian mathematician Brahmagupta included a generic method for finding one root of a quadratic equation in his treatise Brāhmasphuṭasiddhānta (circa 628 AD), written out in words in the style of the time but more or less equivalent to the modern symbolic formula.
The Egyptian mathematician Abū Kāmil Shujā ibn Aslam (c. 850–930) was the first to accept irrational numbers in the form of a square root or fourth root as solutions to quadratic equations or as coefficients in an equation. [76]
Halley's method is a numerical algorithm for solving the nonlinear equation f(x) = 0.In this case, the function f has to be a function of one real variable. The method consists of a sequence of iterations:
Algebraic geometry is a branch of mathematics which uses abstract algebraic techniques, mainly from commutative algebra, to solve geometrical problems.Classically, it studies zeros of multivariate polynomials; the modern approach generalizes this in a few different aspects.
The square root of 2 is equal to the length of the hypotenuse of a right triangle with legs of length 1 and is therefore a constructible number. In geometry and algebra, a real number is constructible if and only if, given a line segment of unit length, a line segment of length | | can be constructed with compass and straightedge in a finite number of steps.