( This cornerstone in the history of mathematics first ap...)
This cornerstone in the history of mathematics first appeared in 1545 as Artis magnae, sive de regulis algebraicis. A primer on "the great art" of algebra, it contains the first revelation of the principles for solving cubic and biquadratic equations, along with other innovations. Author Girolamo Cardano (1501-76) was famous not only for his prodigious gifts as a mathematician, but also for his skills as a physician, astrologer, and gambler. Cardano's novel approach to the treatment of scientific problems reflects the spirit of his era, the zenith of the Italian Renaissance. Long unavailable, except in rare Latin editions, Cardano's masterpiece is newly accessible in this excellent English translation by T. Richard Witmer. Adapted to modern mathematical syntax, it will appeal to both historians and mathematicians. Oystein Ore, a renowned mathematician and historian of science, provides an informative introduction, and the text is complemented by 26 black-and-white illustrations.
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(A bright star of the Italian Renaissance, Girolamo Cardan...)
A bright star of the Italian Renaissance, Girolamo Cardano was an internationally-sought-after astrologer, physician, and natural philosopher, a creator of modern algebra, and the inventor of the universal joint. Condemned by the Inquisition to house arrest in his old age, Cardano wrote The Book of My Life, an unvarnished and often outrageous account of his character and conduct. Whether discussing his sex life or his diet, the plots of academic rivals or meetings with supernatural beings, or his deep sorrow when his beloved son was executed for murder, Cardano displays the same unbounded curiosity that made him a scientific pioneer. At once picaresque adventure and campus comedy, curriculum vitae, and last will, The Book of My Life is an extraordinary Renaissance self-portraita book to set beside Montaigne's Essays and Benvenuto Cellini's Autobiography.
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(Mathematics was only one area of interest for Gerolamo Ca...)
Mathematics was only one area of interest for Gerolamo Cardano ? the sixteenth-century astrologer, philosopher, and physician was also a prolific author and inveterate gambler. Gambling led Cardano to the study of probability, and he was the first writer to recognize that random events are governed by mathematical laws. Published posthumously in 1663, Cardano's Liber de ludo aleae (Book on Games of Chance) is often considered the major starting point of the study of mathematical probability. The Italian scholar formulated some of the field's basic ideas more than a century before the better-known correspondence of Pascal and Fermat. Although his book had no direct influence on other early thinkers about probability, it remains an important antecedent to later expressions of the science's tenets.
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Astronomer mathematician physician
He was born in Pavia on Sept. 24, 1501, the illegitimate son of Fazio Cardano, lawyer and public lecturer on geometry in Milan.
He returned to Milan and became his father's successor as a lecturer on mathematical sciences.
Girolamo received his medical degree at the University of Padua in 1526 and tried without much success to make a living as a physician in the nearby town of Sacco di Piave.
Because of his illegitimate birth he had difficulty in gaining admittance to the College of Physicians; his first book of importance (1536) was a violent attack upon the medical practices of the members of the board.
In 1539 Cardano was admitted to practice and soon after became rector of the college and one of the most sought-after physicians in Europe.
In English he is known as Jerome Cardan.
His most famous mathematical work is the Ars magna (1545), a cornerstone of modern algebra, which contains the first attempts at a systematic theory of equations, including some calculations with imaginary numbers.
Tartaglia rediscovered his method in 1535 and confided it to Cardano under an oath of secrecy.
When Cardano published it, he claimed to have access to Ferro's earlier work, which he felt freed him of any obligation to Tartaglia.
In 1539 Cardano published two books on arithmetic, which were based on the lectures he had been giving at Milan, and they proved to be among the best mathematical texts of the time.
Of more importance, however, was the Ars magna (Artis magnaesive de regulis algebraicis) of 1545, which was devoted solely to algebra and was the first important printed work on the subject.
Tartaglia, however, accused him of treachery in his book published in 1546.
His book on gambling, De Ludo alea (On Games of Chance), is the first attempt to create a theory of probability.
He introduced many novel ideas in medicine. In spite of his fame, Cardano's later years were tragic.
The charges are not definitely known and the sentence was relatively lenient, but he was forbidden to publish any more of his writing.
It was published in Nuremberg and contained the theories of algebraic equations as they were known at that time.
It was followed by a companion piece De varietate rerum published in 1557.
In both books Cardano shows himself to have been a man of many interests and possessed of a great curiosity.
In his writings on magnetism he advanced the idea that magnets can grow old and lose their potency, and that a magnetized needle turns on its pivot spontaneously.
He associated magnetism with the pull exerted by a star in the tail of the constellation Ursa Major (the Big Dipper).
He refused to rely on the authorities of the past, such as Galen and Hippocrates, and developed hisown ideas in medical practice.
He wrote about the instruction of deaf-mutes and blind persons, treatment of syphilis and typhus fever, causes of disease, and character determination from facial appearances.
In his concern with life itself, he hinted at an evolutionary process and believed that there was infinite variability in animal species.
Cardano may perhaps be regarded as typical, yet very special, among the men of the Renaissance.
However, here he again found difficulties and was jailed in 1570 on a charge of heresy.
His fame had undoubtedly mitigated his punishment, and at Rome he was allowed to stay in the College of Physicians and was given a pension by Pope Gregory XIII.
(A bright star of the Italian Renaissance, Girolamo Cardan...)
(Mathematics was only one area of interest for Gerolamo Ca...)
( This cornerstone in the history of mathematics first ap...)
His son, also a physician in Milan, was executed in 1560 for poisoning his unfaithful wife.
He suffered from impotence throughout the early part of his life, but recovered and married Lucia Banderini in 1531. Before her death in 1546, she bore him three children, Giovanni Battista (1534), Chiara (1537) and Aldo (1543).
