# 4th degree
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4th-degree/10350
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [April 14, 2000, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4th-degree/10350 "2000-04-14T04:12:00Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@LifeWillFall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeWillFall)
#### Post date: [April 14, 2000, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4th-degree/10350/1 "2000-04-14T04:12:00Z")
Ok so everyone knows the formula for solving a 2nd degree polynomial is the quadratic equation, dervived from “Completing the Square” but I was reading a book on the history of math that mentioned and showed a rather complicated formula for the formula for solving a 3rd degree polynomial, but it only mentioned that a formula for a 4th degree was known. the formula wasn’t listed and I can’t seem to find it anywhere, is this a piece of lost information?
any help finding this formula would be appreciated, I’m rather curios
-Evan
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### Author:  [@MysterEcks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysterEcks)
#### Post date: [April 14, 2000, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4th-degree/10350/2 "2000-04-14T05:41:00Z")
I used to worry about stuff like this too, Evan. But then I got the Dish Network, so now I watch “Charlie Chat” instead.
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### Author:  [@Cabbage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cabbage)
#### Post date: [April 14, 2000, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4th-degree/10350/3 "2000-04-14T05:44:00Z")
Yeah, actually, there’s some interesting history and interesting people behind the solution of the cubic and quartic equations; it was kept a secret for a long time, then someone (Cardano, I believe) broke a promise to keep it secret. I don’t remember the whole story too well offhand, and it would be too long to go into here, anyway. Here’s a [link](http://forum.swarthmore.edu/dr.math/faq/faq.cubic.equations.html) to both solutions.
By the way, in 1824, Niels Abel proved that there is [a]no[/a] such solution for fifth degree (or higher) polynomials.
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…ebius sig. This is a moebius sig. This is a mo…
(sig line courtesy of WallyM7)
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### Author:  [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)
#### Post date: [April 14, 2000, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4th-degree/10350/4 "2000-04-14T15:24:00Z")
Short story: It’s called…Calculus! There are some short steps which lead you to the roots (solutions) of higher polynomials.
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“They’re coming to take me away ha-ha, ho-ho, hee-hee, to the funny farm where life is beautiful all the time… :)” - Napoleon IV
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### Author:  [@JonF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JonF)
#### Post date: [April 14, 2000, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4th-degree/10350/5 "2000-04-14T16:39:00Z")
> [@](#):
>
> There are some short steps which lead you to the roots (solutions) of higher polynomials.
Yeah, but they’re not analytic closed-form solutions, as are the solutions for the quadratic, cubic, and quartic polynomials.
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jrf
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### Author:  [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2000, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/4th-degree/10350/6 "2000-04-15T05:37:00Z")
> [@](#):
>
> everyone knows the formula for solving a 2nd degree polynomial is the quadratic equation
**Everyone** knows this? Was it published in the newspapers? Concealed in fortune cookies? Are they playing it on top-40 radio?
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