Cubic function

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

(Redirected from Cubic equation)

This article discusses cubic equations in one variable. For a discussion of cubic equations in two
variables, see elliptic curve.

In mathematics, a cubic function is a function of the form

where a is nonzero; or in other words, a polynomial of degree three. The

derivative of a cubic function is a quadratic function. The integral of a
cubic function is a quartic function.

Setting ƒ(x) = 0 and assuming a ≠ 0 produces a cubic equation of the

form:

Graph of a cubic function with

Usually, the coefficients a, b,c, d are real numbers. However, most of the its 3 roots, i.e. where the curve
crosses the x-axis (y = 0). It has 2
theory is also valid if they belong to a field of characteristic other than 2
critical points.
or 3. Solving a cubic equation amounts to finding the roots or zeros of a
cubic function. There are two ways to solve a cubic equation. One way is
to express the roots as formulas involving simple functions like square and cube roots. This is the approach
which is described in this page. Another way is to use a numerical approximation of the roots in the field of the
real or complex numbers. This may be obtained by any root-finding algorithm, like Newton's method.

Contents

1 History

2 Derivative

3 Roots of a cubic function

3.1 The nature of the roots

3.2 General formula of roots

3.3 Reduction to a monic trinomial

3.4 Cardano's method

3.5 Lagrange's method

3.5.1 Computation of A and B

3.6 Trigonometric (and hyperbolic) method

3.7 Factorization

4 See also

5 Notes

6 References

7 External links

History
Cubic equations were known to the ancient Indians[citation needed] and ancient Greeks since the 5th century BC,
and even earlier to the ancient Babylonians who were able to solve certain cubic equations,[citation needed] and
also to the ancient Egyptians. Doubling the cube is the simplest and oldest studied cubic equation, and one
which the ancient Egyptians considered to be impossible.[1] Hippocrates reduced this problem to that of finding
two mean proportionals between one line and another of twice its length, but could not solve this with a
compass and straightedge construction,[2] a task which is now known to be impossible. Hippocrates,
Menaechmus and Archimedes are believed to have come close to solving the problem of doubling the cube
using intersecting conic sections,[2] though historians such as Reviel Netz dispute whether the Greeks were
thinking about cubic equations or just problems that can lead to cubic equations. Some others like T. L. Heath ,
who translated all Archimedes' works, disagree, putting forward evidence that Archimedes really solved cubic
equations using intersections of two cones, but also discussed the conditions where the roots are 0, 1 or 2.[3]

In the 11th century, the Persian poet-mathematician, Omar

Khayyám (1048–1131), made significant progress in the theory of
cubic equations. In an early paper he wrote regarding cubic
equations, he discovered that a cubic equation can have more than
one solution and stated that it cannot be solved using compass and
straightedge constructions. He also found a geometric solution
which could be used to get a numerical answer by consulting
trigonometric tables. In his later work, the Treatise on
Demonstration of Problems of Algebra, he wrote a complete
classification of cubic equations with general geometric solutions
found by means of intersecting conic sections.[4][5]

In the 12th century, another Persian mathematician, Sharaf al-Dīn

al-Tūsī (1135–1213), wrote the Al-Mu'adalat (Treatise on
Equations), which dealt with eight types of cubic equations with
positive solutions and five types of cubic equations which may not
have positive solutions. He used what would later be known as the
"Ruffini-Horner method" to numerically approximate the root of a
cubic equation. He also developed the concepts of a derivative
function and the maxima and minima of curves in order to solve
cubic equations which may not have positive solutions.[6] He
understood the importance of the discriminant of the cubic
equation to find algebraic solutions to certain types of cubic
equations.[7]

Leonardo de Pisa, also known as Fibonacci (1170–1250), was able

to find the positive solution to the cubic equation x3+2x2+10x =
20, using the babylonian numerals. He gave the result as
1,22,7,42,33,4,40 which is equivalent to:
Two-dimensional graph of a cubic, the 1+22/60+7/602+42/603+33/604+4/605+40/606.[8]
polynomial ƒ(x) = 2x3 − 3x2 − 3x + 2.
In the early 16th century, the Italian mathematician Scipione del
Ferro (1465–1526) found a method for solving a class of cubic
3
equations, namely those of the form x + mx = n. In fact, all cubic equations can be reduced to this form if we
allow m and n to be negative, but negative numbers were not known to him at that time. Del Ferro kept his
achievement secret until just before his death, when he told his student Antonio Fiore about it.

In 1530, Niccolò Tartaglia (1500–1557) received two problems in cubic equations from Zuanne da Coi and
announced that he could solve them. He was soon challenged by Fiore, which led to a famous contest between
the two. Each contestant had to put up a certain amount of money and to propose a number of problems for his
rival to solve. Whoever solved more problems within 30 days would get all the money. Tartaglia received
questions in the form x3 + mx = n, for which he had worked out a general method. Fiore received questions in
the form x3 + mx2 = n, which proved to be too difficult for him to solve, and Tartaglia won the contest.

Later, Tartaglia was persuaded by Gerolamo Cardano (1501–1576) to reveal his secret for solving cubic
equations. In 1539, Tartaglia did so only on the condition that Cardano would never reveal it and that if he did
reveal a book about cubics, that he would give Tartaglia time to publish. Some years later, Cardano learned
about Ferro's prior work and published Ferro's method in his book Ars Magna in 1545, meaning Cardano gave
Tartaglia 6 years to publish his results (with credit given to Tartaglia for an independent solution). Cardano's
promise with Tartaglia stated that he not publish Tartaglia's work, and Cardano felt he was publishing del
Ferro's, so as to get around the promise. Nevertheless, this led to a challenge to Cardano by Tartaglia, which
Cardano denied. The challenge was eventually accepted by Cardano's student Lodovico Ferrari (1522–1565).
Ferrari did better than Tartaglia in the competition, and Tartaglia lost both his prestige and income [9].

Cardano noticed that Tartaglia's method sometimes required him to extract the square root of a negative
number. He even included a calculation with these complex numbers in Ars Magna, but he did not really
understand it. Rafael Bombelli studied this issue in detail and is therefore often considered as the discoverer of
complex numbers.

Derivative
Through the quadratic formula the roots of the derivative

are given by

and provide the critical points where the slope of the cubic function is zero. If b2-3ac>0, then the cubic
function has a local maximum and a local minimum. If b2-3ac=0, then the cubic's inflection point is the only
critical point. If b2-3ac<0, then there are no critical points. In the cases where b2-3ac≤0, the cubic function is
strictly monotonic.

Roots of a cubic function

The general cubic equation has the form

with

This section describes how the roots of such an equation may be computed. The coefficients a,b,c,d are
generally supposed to be real numbers, but most of the results apply when they belong to any field of
characteristic different of two and three.

The nature of the roots

Every cubic equation (1) with real coefficients has at least one solution x among the real numbers; this is a
consequence of the intermediate value theorem. We can distinguish several possible cases using the
discriminant,

The following cases need to be considered: [10]

If ∆ > 0, then the equation has three distinct real roots.

If ∆ = 0, then the equation has a multiple root and all its roots are real.

If ∆ < 0, then the equation has one real root and two nonreal complex conjugate roots.

See also: multiplicity of a root of a polynomial

General formula of roots

For the general cubic equation (1) with real coefficients, the general formula for the roots, in terms of the
coefficients, is as follows if (2b3 − 9abc + 27a2d)2 − 4(b2 − 3ac)3 = − 27a2∆ > 0, i.e. if there are two
non real roots:

However this formula is wrong if the operand of the square root is negative or if the coefficients belong to a
field which is not contained in the field of the real numbers: When this operand is real and positive, the cubic
roots are real and well defined. In the other case, the square root is not real and one has to choose, once for all a
determination for it, for example the one with positive imaginary part. For extracting the cubic roots we have
also to choose a determination for the cubic roots, and this gives nine possible values for the first root of an
equation which has only three roots.

A correct solution may be obtained by remarking that the proof of above formula shows that the product of the
two cubic roots is rational. This gives the following formula in which or stand for any determination of the
square or cubic root, if
If and b2 − 3ac = 0, the sign of Q has to be chosen for having .

If Q = 0 and b2 − 3ac = 0, the three roots are equal:

If Q = 0 and , above expression for the roots is correct but misleading, hiding the fact that no radical is needed
to represent the roots. In fact, in this case, there is a double root

and a simple root

The next sections describe how these formulas may be obtained.

Reduction to a monic trinomial

Dividing Equation (1) by a and substituting x by (Tschirnhaus transformation) we get the equation

where

Any formula for the roots of Equation (2) may be transformed in a formula for the roots of Equation (1) by
substituting p and q by the above values and using the relation .

Therefore, only Equation (2) is considered in the following.

Cardano's method

The solutions can be found with the following method due to Scipione del Ferro and Tartaglia, published by
Gerolamo Cardano in 1545.[11]

We first apply preceding reduction, giving the so-called depressed cubic

We introduce two variables u and v linked by the condition

and substitute this in the depressed cubic (2), giving

At this point Cardano imposed a second condition for the variables u and v

As the first parenthesis vanishes in (3), we get u3 + v3 = − q and u3v3 = − p3 / 27. Thus u3 and v3 are the
two roots of the equation

At this point, Cardano, who did not know complex numbers, supposed that the roots of this equation were real,
that is that

Solving this equation and using the fact that u and v may be exchanged, we find

and .

As these expressions are real, their cubic roots are well defined and, like Cardano, we get

The two complex roots are obtained by considering the complex cubic roots; the fact uv is real implies that
they are obtained by multiplying one of the above cubic roots by and the other by .

If is not necessarily positive, we have to choose a cubic root of u3. As there is no direct way to

choose the corresponding cubic root of v3, one has to use the relation , which gives

and

Note that the sign of the square root does not affect the resulting t, because changing it amounts to exchanging
u and v. We have chosen the minus sign to have when p = 0 and , in order to avoid a division by
zero. With this choice, the above expression for t works always, except when p = q = 0, where the second
term becomes 0/0. In this case there is a triple root t = 0.

Note also that in several cases the solutions are expressed with less square or cubic roots
 If p = q = 0 then we have the triple real root
If p = 0 and then
and the three roots are the three cubic roots of − q.
If then and q = 0

in which case the three roots are

where

Finally if , there is a double root and a simple root which may be expressed rationally in term of
p and q, but this expression may not be immediately deduced from the general expression of the roots:

To pass from these roots of t in Equation (2) to the general formulas for roots of x in Equation (1), subtract
and replace p and q by their expressions in terms of a,b,c,d.

Lagrange's method

In his paper Réflexions sur la résolution algébrique des équations, Joseph Louis Lagrange introduced a new
method to solve the equations of low degree.

This method works well for cubic and quartic equations, but Lagrange did not succeed in applying it to a
quintic equation, because it implies to solve a resolving polynomial of degree at least six[12][13][14]. This is
explained by the Abel–Ruffini theorem, which proves that such polynomials cannot be solved by radicals.
Nevertheless the modern methods for solving solvable quintic equations are mainly based on Lagrange's
method.[14]

In the case of cubic equations, Lagrange's method gives the same solution as Cardano's, but avoid its magic
aspect (Why Cardano did choose these auxiliary variables?). Moreover it may also be applied directly to
general cubic equation (1) without using the reduction to the trinomial equation (2). Nevertheless the
computation is much easier on this reduced equation.

Suppose that x0, x1 and x2 are the roots of equation (1) or (2), and define , so that ζ is a
primitive third root of unity which satisfies the relation ζ2 + ζ + 1 = 0. We now set

This is the discrete Fourier transform of the roots: observe that while the coefficients of the polynomial are
symmetric in the roots, in this formula an order has been chosen on the roots, so these are not symmetric in the
roots. The roots may then be recovered from the three si by inverting the above linear transformation via the
inverse discrete Fourier transform, giving

The polynomial s0 is an elementary symmetric polynomial and is thus equal to − b / a in case of Equation (1)
and to zero in case of Equation (2), so we only need to seek values for the other two.
The polynomials s1 and s2 are not symmetric functions or the roots: s0 is invariant, while the two non-trivial
cyclic permutations of the roots send s1 to ζs1 and s2 to ζ2s2, or s1 to ζ2s1 and s2 to ζs2 (depending on
which permutation), while transposing r1 and r2 switches s1 and s2; other transpositions switch these roots
and multiplying them by a power of ζ.

Thus, , and s1s2 are left invariant by the cyclic permutations of the roots, which multiply them by ζ3 = 1.
Also s1s2 and are left invariant by the transposition of x1 and x2 which exchanges s1 and s2. As the
permutation group S3 of the roots is generated by these permutations, it follow that and s1s2 are
symmetric functions of the roots and may thus be written as polynomial in the elementary symmetric
polynomials and thus as rational functions of the coefficients of the equation. Let and s1s2 = B
these expressions, which will be explicitly computed below.

We have got that and are the two roots of the quadratic equation

Thus the resolution of the equation may be finished exactly as described for Cardano's method, with s1 and s2
in place of u and v.

Computation of A and B

Setting E1 = x0 + x1 + x2, E2 = x0x1 + x1x2 + x2x1 and E3 = x0x1x2, the elementary symmetric
polynomials, we have, using that ζ3 = 1:

The expression for is the same with ζ and ζ2 exchanged. Thus, using ζ2 + ζ = − 1 we get

and a straightforward computation gives

Similarly we have

When solving Equation (1) we have

E1 = − b / a, E2 = c / a and E3 = − d / a
With Equation (2), we have E1 = 0, E2 = p and E3 = − q and thus:
A = − 27q and B = − 3p.

Note that with Equation (2), we have and s1s2 = − 3p, when in Cardano's method we have
set x0 = u + v and Thus we have, up to the exchange of u and v:
 s1 = 3u and s2 = 3v.
In other words, in this case, Cardano's and Lagrange's method compute exactly the same things, up to a factor
of three in the auxiliary variables, the main difference being that Lagrange's method explains why these
auxiliary variables appear in the problem.

Trigonometric (and hyperbolic) method

When a cubic equation has three real roots, the formulas expressing these roots in term of radicals involve
complex numbers. A representation of these roots in term of cosine and arccosine allows to avoid complex
numbers. The formulas which follow are true in general (except when p=0), but involve complex cosine and
arccosine when there is only one real root.

Starting from Equation (2), t3 + pt + q = 0, let us set The idea is to choose u for identifying
Equation (2) with the identity

In fact, choosing and dividing Equation (2) by we get

Combining with above identity, we get

and thus the roots are[15]

This formula is totally real if p < 0 and the argument of the arccosine is between -1 and 1. The last condition is
equivalent with which implies also p < 0. Thus the above formula for the roots is totally
real if and only if the three roots are real.

Denoting by C(p,q) the above value of t0 and using the inequality for a real number
u such that the three roots may also be expressed as

If the three roots are real, we have

All these formulas may be straightforwardly transformed into formulas for the roots of the general cubic
equation (1), using the back substitution described in Section Reduction to a monic trinomial.

When there is only one real root (and p≠0), it may be similarly represented, using hyperbolic functions, as[16]
If p≠0 and the inequalities on the right are not satisfied the formulas remain valid but involve complex
quantities.

When , above values of t0 are sometimes named Chebyshev cube root.[17] More precisely the values
involving cosines and hyperbolic cosines define, when p = − 3, the same analytic function denoted ,
which is the proper Chebyshev cube root. The value involving hyperbolic sines is similarly denoted
when p = 3.

Factorization

If r is any root of (1), then we may factor using r to obtain

Hence if we know one root we can find the other two by solving a quadratic equation, giving

for the other two roots.

See also

Casus irreducibilis

Linear equation

Quadratic equation

Quartic equation

Quintic equation

Polynomial

Newton's method

Spline (mathematics)

Viete

Notes
1. ^ Guilbeau (1930, p. 8) states, "The Egyptians considered the solution impossible, but the Greeks came nearer to a
solution."
2. ^ a b Guilbeau (1930, pp. 8–9)
3. ^ The works of Archimedes, translation by T. L. Heath
4. ^ J. J. O'Connor and E. F. Robertson (1999), Omar Khayyam (http://www-groups.dcs.st-
and.ac.uk/~history/Biographies/Khayyam.html), MacTutor History of Mathematics archive, states, "Khayyam
himself seems to have been the first to conceive a general theory of cubic equations."
5. ^ Guilbeau (1930, p. 9) states, "Omar Al Hay of Chorassan, about 1079 AD did most to elevate to a method the
solution of the algebraic equations by intersecting conics."
6. ^ O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "Sharaf al-Din al-Muzaffar al-Tusi" (http://www-history.mcs.st-
andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Al-Tusi_Sharaf.html), MacTutor History of Mathematics archive, University of St
Andrews, http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Al-Tusi_Sharaf.html.
7. ^ J. L. Berggren (1990), "Innovation and Tradition in Sharaf al-Din al-Tusi's Muadalat", Journal of the American
 Oriental Society 110 (2): 304–9
8. ^ "The life and numbers of Fibonacci" [1] (http://pass.maths.org.uk/issue3/fibonacci/index.html), Plus Magazine
9. ^ Katz, Victor. A History of Mathematics. pp. 220. Boston: Addison Wesley, 2004.
10. ^ Irving, Ronald S. (2004), Integers, polynomials, and rings (http://books.google.com/?id=B4k6ltaxm5YC),
Springer-Verlag New York, Inc., ISBN 0-387-40397-3, http://books.google.com/?id=B4k6ltaxm5YC, Chapter 10 ex
10.14.4 and 10.17.4, p. 154-156 (http://books.google.com/books?id=B4k6ltaxm5YC&pg=PA154)
11. ^ Jacobson (2009), p. 210.
12. ^ Prasolov, Viktor; Solovyev, Yuri (1997), Elliptic functions and elliptic integrals (http://books.google.com/?
id=fcp9IiZd3tQC), AMS Bookstore, ISBN 978 0 82180587 9, http://books.google.com/?id=fcp9IiZd3tQC, §6.2, p.
134 (http://books.google.com/books?id=fcp9IiZd3tQC&pg=PA134#PPA134,M1)
13. ^ Kline, Morris (1990), Mathematical Thought from Ancient to Modern Times (http://books.google.com/?id=aO-
v3gvY-I8C), Oxford University Press US, ISBN 978 0 19506136 9, http://books.google.com/?id=aO-v3gvY-I8C,
Algebra in the Eighteenth Century: The Theory of Equations (http://books.google.com/books?id=aO-v3gvY-
I8C&printsec=frontcover#PPA597,M1)
14. ^ a b Daniel Lazard, "Solving quintics in radicals", in Olav Arnfinn Laudal, Ragni Piene, The Legacy of Niels Henrik
Abel, pp. 207–225, Berlin, 2004,. ISBN 3-5404-3826-2
15. ^ Shelbey, Samuel (1975), CRC Standard Mathematical Tables, CRC Press, ISBN 0 87819 622 6
16. ^ These are Formulas (80) and (83) of Weisstein, Eric W. 'Cubic Formula'. From MathWorld--A Wolfram Web
Resource. http://mathworld.wolfram.com/CubicFormula.html, rewritten for having a coherent notation.
17. ^ Abramowitz, Milton; Stegun, Irene A., eds. Handbook of Mathematical Functions with Formulas, Graphs, and
Mathematical Tables, Dover (1965), chap. 22 p. 773

References

Anglin, W. S.; Lambek, Joachim (1995), "Mathematics in the Renaissance" (http://books.google.com/?
id=mZfXHRgJpmQC&pg=PA125&lpg=PA125&dq=%22mathematics+in+the+renaissance%
22+heritage+thales&q), The Heritage of Thales, Springers, pp. 125–131, ISBN 978-0387945446,
http://books.google.com/?id=mZfXHRgJpmQC&pg=PA125&lpg=PA125&dq=%
22mathematics+in+the+renaissance%22+heritage+thales&q Ch. 24.

Guilbeau, Lucye (1930), "The History of the Solution of the Cubic
(http://jstor.org/stable/3027812), Mathematics News Letter 5 (4): 8–12, doi:10.2307/3027812
(http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/3027812), http://jstor.org/stable/3027812

Jacobson, Nathan (2009), Basic algebra, 1 (2nd ed.), Dover, ISBN 978-0-486-47189-1

Nickalls, R. W. D. (November 1993), "A new approach to solving the cubic: Cardan's solution
(http://www.nickalls.org/dick/papers/maths/cubic1993.pdf), The Mathematical Gazette 77 (480): 354–
359, doi:10.2307/3619777 (http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/3619777), ISSN 0025-5572
(http://www.worldcat.org/issn/0025-5572), http://www.nickalls.org/dick/papers/maths/cubic1993.pdf

Henriquez, G., "The graphical interpretation of the complex roots of cubic equations," American
Mathematical Monthly 42, June-July 1935, 383-384.

Dunnett, R., "Newton-Raphson and the cubic," Mathematical Gazette 78, November 1994, 347-348.

Dence, T., "Cubics, chaos and Newton's method," Mathematical Gazette 81, November 1997, 403-408.

Holmes, G. C., "The use of hyperbolic cosines in solving cubic polynomials," Mathematical Gazette 86,
November 2002, 473-477.

Nickalls, R. W. D., "Viète, Descartes and the cubic equation," Mathematical Gazette 90, July 2006, 203-
208.

Mitchell, D. W., "Solving cubics by solving triangles," Mathematical Gazette 91, November 2007, 514-
516.

Zucker, I. J., "The cubic equation—A new look at the irreducible case," Mathematical Gazette 92, July
2008, 264-268.

Rechtschaffen, E., "Real roots of cubics: Explicit formula for quasi-solutions," Mathematical Gazette 92,
July 2008, 268-276.

Mitchell, D. W., "Powers of φ as roots of cubics," Mathematical Gazette 93, November 2009.

External links

Solving a Cubic by means of Moebius transforms
(http://home.pipeline.com/~hbaker1/sigplannotices/sigcol07.pdf)

Interesting derivation of trigonometric cubic solution with 3 real roots
(http://home.pipeline.com/~hbaker1/cubic3realroots.htm)

Calculator for solving Cubics (also solves Quartics and Quadratics)
(http://www.freewebs.com/brianjs/ultimateequationsolver.htm)

Tartaglia's work (and poetry) on the solution of the Cubic Equation
(http://mathdl.maa.org/convergence/1/?pa=content&sa=viewDocument&nodeId=1345&bodyId=1491) at
Convergence (http://mathdl.maa.org/convergence/1/)

Cubic Equation Solver (http://www.akiti.ca/Quad3Deg.html).

Quadratic, cubic and quartic equations (http://www-history.mcs.st-
and.ac.uk/history/HistTopics/Quadratic_etc_equations.html) on MacTutor archive.

Cubic Formula (http://planetmath.org/?op=getobj&from=objects&id=1407) on PlanetMath

Cardano solution calculator as java applet (http://www25.brinkster.com/denshade/cardano.html) at some
local site. Only takes natural coefficients.

Graphic explorer for cubic functions (http://www.mathopenref.com/cubicexplorer.html) With interactive
animation, slider controls for coefficients

On Solution of Cubic Equations
(http://numericalmethods.eng.usf.edu/mws/gen/03nle/mws_gen_nle_bck_exactcubic.pdf) at Holistic
Numerical Methods Institute

Dave Auckly, Solving the quartic with a pencil (http://arxiv.org/abs/math.HO/0310449) American Math
Monthly 114:1 (2007) 29—39

"Cubic Equation" (http://demonstrations.wolfram.com/CubicEquation/) by Eric W. Weisstein, The
Wolfram Demonstrations Project, 2007.

The affine equivalence of cubic polynomials (http://math.kennesaw.edu/~mdevilli/affinecubic.html) at
Dynamic Geometry Sketches (http://math.kennesaw.edu/~mdevilli/JavaGSPLinks.htm)
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cubic_function"
Categories: Elementary algebra | Equations | Polynomials

This page was last modified on 21 December 2010 at 07:19.

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may
apply. See Terms of Use for details.
Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.