Scipione Ferro

Italian mathematician

Also known as: Scipione Dal Ferro, Scipione del Ferro

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Also called:: Dal Ferro

Born:: 1465, Bologna

Died:: 1526, Bologna, Papal States (aged 61)

Also Known As:: Scipione Dal Ferro; Scipione del Ferro

Subjects Of Study:: cubic equation

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Scipione Ferro (born 1465, Bologna—died 1526, Bologna, Papal States) was an Italian mathematician who is believed to have found a solution to the cubic equation x³ + px = q where p and q are positive numbers.

Ferro attended the University of Bologna and, in 1496, accepted a position at the university as a lecturer in arithmetic and geometry; he remained at the university until his death. Although none of his work survives, he is known to have influenced the study of fractions with irrational denominators.

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