Structure of the quantum world 25 1

depend fundamentally on the laws of probability. In 1524, Cardano wrote his

Liber de Ludo Aleae (The Book of Games of Chance), which laid the
foundations of the mathematical theory of probability. Cardano had
formulated these laws some years earlier and had put them to good use. He
had been able to finance his studies at medical school in Pavia by applying
these laws in a practical way-through gambling! It must have been clear to
him at an early age that to make money through cheating at cards would be a
risky endeavour, for the man of whom his mother was a widow had come to an
unpleasant end because of just such an activity. Cardano found that he could
win honestly, by applying his discoveries concerning the very laws of
probability.
What is the other fundamental ingredient of quantum theory that Cardano
had discovered? This second ingredient is the notion of a complex number. A
complex number is a number of the form
a + ib,
where 'i' denotes the square root of minus one,
i = J - 1,
and where a and b are ordinary real numbers (i.e. numbers that we now write
in terms of decimal expansions). We would now call a the real part and b the
imaginary part of the complex number a + ib Cardano had come across these
.

strange kinds of number as part of his investigation of the solution of the

general cubic equation. These equations are things like
Ax 3 + Bx 2 + Cx + D = 0,
where A, B, C, and D are given real numbers, and where the equation has to be
solved for x. In 1545, he published a book, Ars Magna, in which appeared the
first complete analysis of the solution of these equations.
There is an unfortunate story in connection with the publication of this
solution. In 1539 a mathematics teacher who was known under the name of
Nicolo 'Tartaglia' was already in possession of the general solution of a certain
broad class of cubic equations, and Cardano had sent a friend to find out from
him what the solution was. However, Tartaglia refused to reveal his solution,
so Cardano set to work and quickly rediscovered it for himself, publishing the
result in 1540, in his book The Practice of Arithmetic and Simple Mensuration.
In fact Cardano was able to extend what Tartaglia had done to cover all cases,
and later published his analysis of the general method of solution in Ars
Magna. In both books, Cardano acknowledged Tartaglia's prior claim to the
solution in that class of cases for which Tartaglia's procedure worked, but in
Ars Magna, Cardano made the mistake of maintaining that Tartaglia had
given him permission to publish. Tartaglia was furious, and claimed that he
had visited Cardano's home, on one occasion, revealing to him his solution on