depressed cubic

[AntonioLao]

The history of the discovery of imaginary unity as the square root of negative unity passed unavoidably through the solution of a depressed cubic polynomial equation. A bold assertion was made in 1494 by the Franciscan friar Luca Pacioli (1445-1514) that a solution of the cubic equation is as impossible as squaring the circle (constructing by straightedge and compass alone a square equal in area to a circle). Although squaring the circle was shown to be truly impossible by the year 1882, in 1504 Scipione del Ferro (1465-1526), a mathematician at the University of Bologna in Italy discovered a special case of the general cubic x+ax+bx+c=0 with the term ax=0. Therefore, the depressed cubic equation solved by del Ferro is x+ax=b where both a and b are non-negative.

The Polish-American mathematician Mark Kac (1914-84) answered the FAQ “How did del Ferro know to do this?” It was his famous distinction between the ordinary genius and the magician genius: “An ordinary genius is someone you and I would be just as good as, if we were only many times better….It is different with the magicians…the working of their minds is for all intends and purposes incomprehensible. Even after we understand what they have done….” Del Ferro’s idea was a typical example of the magician class of genius.

Reference: Paul J. Nahim, An Imaginary Tale: The Story of √-1, Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 1998.

[Profpat]

We accountants celebrate Father Pacioli as the Father of modern day accounting. In a text book he transcribed in 1494 ARITHMETIC, GEOMETRY, PROPORTIONS and PROPORTIONALITY, he had a chapter on the doulble entry bookkeeping system, Drs = Crs. The rest is history. This was truly the beginning of capitalism, and the formation of companies, because there now was a system that kept track of not only what you have ( The single entry system ) but where did you get it or where did it go. A far better information system. ( The double enrty )

[Profpat]

[austintorn@aol.com]

Prof,

This guy is not doing much accounting, but is pointing out three quarks in a proton.

[Mikal]

Austie...what is "quarks"..explain please...


smiles Mikal...(*) (*)

[Profpat]

Prof,

This guy is not doing much accounting, but is pointing out three quarks in a proton.

LOL. I guess his first love was mathematics. He was first an apprentice to a business man. He didn't like that too much.

Now you can explain 3 quarks for Muster Mark to Mikal. ( Austie ? )
I'm telling your beautiful wife Austie. LOL

Best,

Pat

[austintorn@aol.com]

Prof,

That was no wife — she is a lady or an ex. I am single and Mikal and I are not married yet.


To Mikal, sweetie pie, great mind, great poet, Great Karma, dearest, friend and love, and Empress of my universe:

A quark is the smallest thing yet and there are 6 types, some of which do a lot of bonding as certain ToeQuestors do, such as you, Beverly, and I.

Profpat has a theory of the proton, some of which is still contained within in his favorite pencil.

[Mikal]

Thanks Austie sweetie...glad thats straightened out..would not want to reflect badly on you..thats just not in my nature. When you compare a quark to us I think I grasp what you are talking about...smiles


Love Mikal

[Profpat]

Well my goodness. Between Drifter and Melanie and you and Mikal we'll have to rename the the site THE LOVE CONNECTION. What does Robert charge for this service?

Best wishes to the four of you,

Pat

[austintorn@aol.com]

Prof,

Robert doesn't charge. It's like:

— Catching Butterflies —

Some may ask of Life: “How does one find love?”
Life says, “Be still! Don’t look far and above;
Stop—let love’s butterfly alight on you,
For that’s the touch that romance is made of.”


As for the quarks' bonding:

WE ARE MOST FREE WHEN
WE ARE ASYMPTOTICALLY CO-JOINED

The strong family unit, as the three quarks,
Is bonded by the power of its grouping,
But loses identity if the home breaks—
Other pairs soon forming from divorcing.

Then comes the prison of solitude—
Chained to isolation with fortitude,
Floating, lost, without effects of affects,
Losing the identity conferred by others.

Within the proton, gentleness becomes strength,
For the members are free to explore at length,
Never smothering, but building unity,
The unit’s direction adding to the one.

The strong force grows weaker near the quarks,
And so we may observe them someday,
Shining in their primordial glory—
The beginning of all things composite.

Identity is not lost in the co-joining—
True loves don’t crowd the hearts of the others,
But, rather, look outward, in the same direction,
Close, joined, but not in the others’ section.

It is a seeming arithmetic violation,
That in summation we become greater;
We don’t merge, having supported freedom,
Yet still share the same good vibrations.

Love matures when partners let it flow beyond—
Free to wend its way to places dear and fond.
Love’s butterfly prospers when winds blow free;
Unconditional love never binds—it bonds.

Prof, you have Linda and your cake, too, since you just went to the supermarket.

Mikal is a sweet pie and Beverly is a delicious cake.