Chronological

Development of
solutions of a Quadratic
Equation
A map of the development of quadratic
equations

The history of the solution of quadratic equations extends across the

world for more than 4000 years

The earliest known records are Babylonian clay tablets from about
1600 BCE where the diagonal of a unit square is given to five
decimal places of accuracy

The approach to quadratic equations taken today is relatively

modern

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The Babylonian clay tablet below is a valuable and accessible source suitable for working on different
number bases , as well as on decimal approximations to irrational numbers and quadratic problems

Today, this approach can lead to useful explorations with a spreadsheet for an approximation to the
square root of two

Determining the dimensions of a square with the area of a rectangle was important in the development of
early geometry and the Greek mathematicians in 300BCE were familiar with this

From this ‘research centre’ by the end of the century Al-Khwarizmi described solutions for six types of
mercantile and inheritance problems where the quantities were all treated as rational numbers, see table

Solving quadratic equations

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Al-
Squares are equal to roots Squares are equal to
Kharizmi’s numbers Roots are equal to numbers Roots and
square are equal to numbers At the time, all
definition| mathematical problems had to have positive
solutions
Modern
notation The methods came into Europe by two routes:
one from Mesopotamia through the
Mediterranean and Italian merchants, where the
methods are found in Fibonacci’s collection, the
Liber Abaci and the other route through North
Africa and Arab Spain by the Latin translators in
Toledo in the 12th and 13th centuries

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The By this time, mathematicians had tackled
problems where they developed
Development techniques for dealing with special
of Notation problems that involved surds , roots of
surds and some special cubic equations
but no general approach was available at

As printing technology became available,

the Latin texts were translated; first into
Italian, Spanish and German, and then to
the rest of Europe

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 • In 1545 the Italian,
Girolamo Cardano
published his Ars Magna
where he used the work
of his predecessors and
the same basic
procedure that had been
handed down from
Mesopotamia to solve a
whole series of
The Development of equations

Notation
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Every quadratic has
two roots

• The fundamental theorem of algebra was articulated by Albert

Girard in 1629 as “Every algebraic equation .. admits of as many
solutions as the denomination of the highest quantity indicates ...”.
No proof was offered. It was the late 18th century
when mathematicians, including d’A1embert and Gauss, develope
d proofs The link between equations and graphical
representations was due to Descartes. This connection is
important for students today, where realizing that every point on a
curve represents an instance of an equation is a fundamental part
of an understanding of functions

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 • Quadratic equation, in mathematics, an algebraic equation of the second degree (having

Modern
one or more variables raised to the second power). Old Babylonian cuneiform texts,
dating from the time of Hammurabi, show a knowledge of how to solve quadratic
equations, but it appears that ancient Egyptian mathematicians did not know how to

Quadratic solve them. Since the time of Galileo, they have been important in the physics of
accelerated motion, such as free fall in a vacuum. The general quadratic equation in one

Equations
variable is ax2 + bx + c = 0, in which a, b, and c are arbitrary constants (or parameters)
and a is not equal to 0. Such an equation has two roots (not necessarily distinct), as
given by the quadratic formula

• The discriminant b2 − 4ac gives information concerning the nature of the roots
(see discriminant). If, instead of equating the above to zero, the curve ax2 + bx + c = y is
plotted, it is seen that the real roots are the x coordinates of the points at which the curve
crosses the x-axis. The shape of this curve in Euclidean two-dimensional space is
a parabola; in Euclidean three-dimensional space it is a parabolic cylindrical surface,
or paraboloid.

• In two variables, the general quadratic equation is ax2 + bxy + cy2 + dx + ey + f = 0, in

which a, b, c, d, e, and f are arbitrary constants and a, c ≠ 0. The discriminant
(symbolized by the Greek letter delta, Δ) and the invariant (b2 − 4ac) together provide
information as to the shape of the curve. The locus in Euclidean two-dimensional space
of every general quadratic in two variables is a conic section or its degenerate.

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Conclusion

THE SOCIAL AND CULTURAL ASPECTS OF THE QUADRATIC EQUATIONS HAVE AN EXCITING WE HOPE THIS SHORT ARTICLE WILL INSPIRE
ORIGINS OF MATHEMATICS LIE IN SOLVING HISTORY AND ARE IMPORTANT IN MODERN COLLEAGUES TO INCORPORATE THE HISTORY OF
PRACTICAL PROBLEMS SOCIETY TOO MATHEMATICS WHEN TEACHING QUADRATIC
EQUATIONS

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 Fauvel

Joyce, D. Euclid’s Elements

Robson

References
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 Made By – X – LOTUS
Darshit Rander BIRLA INTERNATIOANL SCHOOL

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