Math And... Seminar

Arielle Saiber, Bowdoin College. Niccolo Tartaglia's (1449-1557) solution to solving cubic equations, which renowned mathematician and physician Girolamo Cardano wanted but Tartaglia resisted, led to one of the first intellectual property cases in Western history. The solution Tartaglia gave Cardano was encrypted in a poem. This talk looks at the motives behind his "poetic solution" and what it says about the close relationship between "poeisis" and "mathesis" in this period of math history.