Duels & Deception by Cindy Anstey6/7/2023 ![]() Tradition required that in case of disagreement a public debate should be held in which the contenders would discuss the disputed problems and solutions in front of judges, notaries, government officials, and a large crowd of spectators. When a duel was to take place, a mathematician or scholar would send another a list of problems to be solved in a given amount of time-the “challenge gauntlet”-after which the recipient would propose a further set of problems to his rival. They also played a hugely influential role in the development of the history of mathematics. Sixteenth-century mathematical duels had a long history, rigid procedures, and a lasting impact on the duelists’ standing in their communities. ![]() In this era when mathematicians challenged each other in intellectual duels held outdoors before enthusiastic crowds, their contentious relationship would change the history of mathematics forever. Gerolamo Cardano was a physician, gifted scholar, and notorious gambler who would not hesitate to use flattery and even trickery to learn Tartaglia’s secret. He wrote it down in the form of a poem to prevent other mathematicians from stealing it. Niccolò Tartaglia was an ambitious teacher who possessed a secret formula – the key to unlocking a seemingly unsolvable, two-thousand-year-old mathematical problem. ![]() ![]() ![]() The Secret Formula is the story of two Renaissance mathematicians whose jealousies, intrigues, and contentious debates led to the discovery of a formula for the solution of the cubic equation. ![]()
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