ProofWiki:Mathematicians/Rafael Bombelli

Italian mathematician whose influence may have been greater than is currently recognised.

• Documented the rules for multiplication involving negative numbers.
• Pioneered the work on the understanding of imaginary numbers, using as a springboard Cardano's Formula for the solution of the cubic.
• Developed a method of solving square roots by an approach related to continued fractions.

Also worked as a civil engineer, gaining a high reputation for his involvement in the draining of the Val di Chiana marshes.

Nationality

Italian

History

• Born: Jan 1526, Bologna, Papal States (now Italy)
• Died: 1572, (probably) Rome, Papal States (now Italy)

Books and Papers

• Attempted a translation of the Arithmetica of Diophantus.
• 1572: Algebra (3 volumes of 5)
• 1929: The last two volumes of Algebra published.

Also see

• John J. O'Connor and Edmund F. Robertson: "Rafael Bombelli": MacTutor History of Mathematics archive