Structure of the quantum world 255

Fig. 5. 10. Cardano's problem of finding two numbers whose product is 40

and which sum to 10 can be expressed as finding the intersections of the
curve xy = 40 with the line x + y = 10. In this case it is clear that the
problem cannot be solved with real numbers.

We can see, using modern notation and modern concepts of negative numbers
(and the fact that the cube root of a negative number is minus the cube root of
the positive form of that number), that Cardano's expression is basically the
same as Tartaglia's. However, there is something completely new looming
within the expression, in Cardano's case. For now, if q' is not too large, the
straight line can intersect the curve in three places, so there are three solutions
to the original equation (two being negative, if p > 0). This-the so-called
'casus irreducibilis'--occurs when (¥J') 2 < (tp } 3 , and we see that now w has to
be the square root of a negative number. Thus, the numbers !q' + w and !q' - w,
that appear under the cube root signs, are what we would now call complex
numbers; yet the two cube roots must sum to a real number in order to provide
the solutions to the equation.
Cardano was well aware of this mysterious problem, and later on in Ars
Magna he explicitly addressed the question raised by the occurrence of
complex numbers in the solution of equations. He considered the problem of
finding two numbers whose product is 40 and which sum to 10, obtaining for
the (correct) answer, the two complex numbers
5 + j( - 15) and 5 - j( - 15) .
In graphical terms, we may consider this problem as that of finding the
intersection points of the curve xy = 40 with the straight line x + y = 10 in
Fig. 5. 10. We note that the curves, as depicted, do not actually intersect (in
real-number terms}, which corresponds to the fact that we need complex