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Peter Rothe
Peter Rothe stated that a polynomial of degree n wih real coeffiencents may have n solutions. -
Period: to
1608
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Albert Girard
Stated the same as Peter Rothe, but the coefficients did not have to be real numbers. He published this in L'invention Nouvelle en l'Algebre, pictured here. -
Bernoulli and Euler
Bernoulli said that no polynomial of the form x^4 + a^4 can be written as a combination of polynomials. But Euler sent Bernoulli a letter showing him that actually, it can be written as a combination of polynomials. Bernoulli is pictured. -
d'Alembert
He attempted to prove Euler's statement, but did not complete his proof. As you will see the production of incomplete proofs will continue in the future. -
Euler
Euler attempts to prove what he stated in his letter to Bernoulli. -
de Foncenex
Again, another mathmatician attempts to prove Euler's statement. He produced yet another incomplete proof while assuming that solutions to the polynomial exist. -
Lagrange
Lagrange produced yet another incomplete proof. Similarly to the others he assumes that soultions to the polynomial exsist. -
LaPlace
You will appreciate LaPlace's work once you get to calculus, but unfortunetly he was also unsuccessful in proving Euler's statement. -
James Wood
James Wood takes a crack at this proof. He is one of the first ones to start off with the assumption that the solutions to the polynomials did not exisit. His proof was mainly algebraic. -
Gauss
Guass atempted this proof but mainly from a geometry perspective. His proof also had gaps. -
Argand
Argand is the first to use complex coeffienents in his prove. -
Cauchy
Cauhcy publishes Arands proof in Cours d'analyse. He does not give Arand any credit for it though. -
Weierstass
Weierstass finally points out that it is actually impossible to prove this theorem in a constructive manner. This is why so many past mathmaticians were unsuccessful. -
Hellmuth Kneser
Kneser is able to produce a successful non-constructive proof! YAY! Some time after his son simplifies it and this is the official proof accepted today!
