A Centuries-Old "Impossible" Equation, Once Considered Unsolvable, Finally Has a Solution

The Debrief ^ | May 13, 2025 | Christopher Plain

[TigersEye]

q = quarts
gal = gallons

It’s the new bra sizing measurement.

[Tymesup]

I remember there were formulas for 3rd and 4th degree polynomials in the CRC reference book. Complicated, I think the 4th degree formula led to a second formula.

Galois’ work helped Andrew Wiles prove Fermat’s Last Theorem. Since Fermat was before Galois, we still don’t know if Fermat had something or was mistaken.

[Tymesup]

Rationality doesn’t affect our ability to solve a polynomial. The first order equation x - 2^.5 = 0 is solved by x = 2^.5, an irrational number.

Using numerical methods - a power series - produces numerical answers that are as precise as we want them to be. However, that’s not a solution.

This article might have benefited from an example.

[SunkenCiv]

I pinged at least one person who is likely to know. :^)

[Mark17]

That guy had an advantage. He stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night. 👍😜

[GingisK]

Surround the exponent with < sup> and < /sup and one gets x^y

[AdmSmith]

Norman is a nice person but he is against the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axiom_of_choice and the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axiom_of_infinity i.e. he has forgotten that they are axioms.

His history of math is entertaining (but skip the part about infinity and Babylonian math) https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL34B589BE3014EAEB

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks A, but wait, skip the Babylonians?!? ;^) I did skip Ye’s opera “Nebuchadnezzar”...

[BarbM]

Oh, I see. And that little /\ sign is where they shove it up their arses.

thanks for the update.

[AdmSmith]

Wildberger has his own theory about Plimpton 322 a Babylonian clay tablet https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plimpton_322

[SunkenCiv]

George probably faked it.

[SunkenCiv]

• The Babylonians Were Using Pythagoras' Theorem Over 1,000 Years Before He Was Born [08/07/2021]
• Incredible 3700-Year-Old Babylonian Clay Tablet Is World's Oldest Example of Applied Geometry [08/04/2021]
• Stonehenge builders used Pythagoras' theorem 2,000 years before Greek philosopher was born, experts [06/20/2018]
• Ancient Tablets Reveal Mathematical Achievements of Ancient Babylonian Culture [11/20/2010]
• Unprecedented mathematical knowledge found in (Minoan) Bronze Age wall paintings. [03/02/2006]