National Academies of Sciences%2c Engineering%2c and Medicine

Unknown Quantity: A Real and Imaginary History of Algebra

§RU.1 IN MY PRIMER ON THE SOLUTION of the general cubic, I mentioned the cube roots of 1 (§CQ.4). There are three of these little devils. Obviously 1 itself is a cube root of 1, since 1×1×1 = 1. The ...