How actually people invented the quadratic equation? What practical problem did they solve? There are some info about this exist in internet, but it is very abstract - I cant find the concrete task which they try to solve. Also I can`t find the way of they thought during solve of that concrete problem.
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2See History of quadratic equation for the Babylonian origin. – Mauro ALLEGRANZA May 04 '18 at 13:56
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Mauro, did you read you link? There are wrote that "Babylonian solve problems relating the areas and sides of rectangles". It is general phrase that nothing clarify. What problem did they try to solve in their usual life? It is what I asked. – AeroSun May 04 '18 at 15:00
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2"finding the dimensions of a rectangle given its area and the amount by which the length exceeds the width" is a "concrete problem" for a society based on agricolture. – Mauro ALLEGRANZA May 04 '18 at 17:41
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Mauro, ok so for what purposes they need to find the dimensions of a rectangle gives its area? Was there some practical reasons (what reason?) to do that or they solve the equation just for fun? – AeroSun May 04 '18 at 21:45
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We have reasons to believe that math in ancient time originated not from "practical needs". See Abraham Seidenberg's studies : The ritual origin of geometry (1961) and The ritual origin of counting (1962) and The ritual origin of the circle and square (1981). – Mauro ALLEGRANZA May 05 '18 at 16:36