History of Complex

Numbers
Created by: Golf, Mew, Tee, and Meui
 What are Complex
Numbers?
A complex number is a
combination of a real number
and an imaginary number. It
must be in the form
Real a+b𝒊 Imaginary

Example: 7+8𝒊
 Gerolamo Cardano
Gerolamo Cardano is an Italian
physician, mathematician, and an
astrologer. He was born on September
24, 1501 in a city name Pavia in Italy.
He studied at the university of Pavia
and Padua. He died on September 21,
1576 at the age of 75.
 Complex Numbers
Gerolamo Cardano is the first
person to make use of numbers less
than zero or what we called today as
imaginary numbers. Later on, he use
these imaginary numbers to solve cubic
equations.
One of his student, Lodovico Ferrari,
also adopt these numbers to solve
quartic equation.
Practica arithmetica et mensurandi singularis

In 1539, Gerolamo Cardano

published a book name “Practice of
Mathematics and Individual
Measurements”. This book was
published and it became famous
for its collection of diverse
mathematical problems.
 Ars Magna
Ars Magna is a famous book wrote
by Gerolamo Cardano in 1545, and is
considered as the book that began the
solving of archaic equations. Although he
isn’t the first person who come up with
the techniques, he is the first person to
compile many methods in solving
polynomial equations in one book.
 Typhus fever
He is also the first physician
who gave the first clinical
description for typhus fever. Typhus
fever is transmitted when a person
got bitten by infected lice. People
who have been infected will often
have high fever and rashes.
 Inventions
● In his lifetime, he invented
many things, these include:
combination lock, gimbal, and
Cardan shaft.
● The Cardan shaft allows the
transmission of rotary motion
at many different angles. It is
still being used in vehicles
today.
 References
● https://www.uptodate.com/contents/epidemic-typhus
● https://winspiremagazine.com/girolamo-cardano-man-behind-complex-numbers/
● https://www.storyofmathematics.com/16th_tartaglia.html
● http://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Cardan.html