Problem 2) Prove Cardano's claim that the sum of any number of odd monomials equal to a

constant has exactly one "real" solution. You can assume all coefficients are positive.
Real means positive solution and fictitious means negative.

Z= C1X + C 3 X 3 + ... + CnX n

Where n is an odd number
Let Z and all coefficients (C1, C3, . Cn) be positive, which is by definition.
Let X = some number R, where R is positive.

Z = C1( R ) + C 3( R )3 + ... + Cn( R ) n

Evaluate and due to the odd powers the negative will remain

Z=[C1( R ) + C 3( R )3 + ... + Cn( R ) n ]

However due to Z being positive and all coefficients (C1, C3, . Cn) being positive

Z [C1( R ) + C 3( R )3 + ... + Cn( R ) n ]

Z cannot equal a negative number therefor by contradiction X must have at least one solution and
it must be positive or a real number.
Proving it has only one solution.

Z= C1X + C 3 X 3 + ... + CnX n Is one to one?

Proof

f ( x ) = Z + C1X + C 3 X 3 + ... + CnX n

Take the derivative

) (C1) + 3(C 3) X 2 + ... + n(Cn ) X n 1

f '( x =

Because all coefficients (C1, C3, . Cn) are positive and all exponents are now even.
evenNumbers 0 mod 2
1-1 = 0 therefor odd powers become even
oddNumbers 1mod 2

) (C1) + 3(C 3) X 2 + ... + n(Cn ) X n 1

Any X value evaluated in f '( x =

Will be positive so f '( x ) > 0 which proves that f(x) is a one to one function

Therefore the sum of any monomials equal to a constant have exactly one real solution
because of it being one to one and odd powers with positive coefficients equaling a positive
number.
Calculous method for determining one to one.

A continuous (and differentiable) function whose derivative is always positive (> 0) or always negative (<
0) is a one-to-one function. Why? I Remember the Mean Value Theorem from Calculus 1, that says if we
have a pair of numbers x1 and x2 which violate the condition for 1-to1ness; namely x1 x2 and f (x1) = f
(x2), then there must be some point c in the interval between x1 and x2 with f' (c) = 0 (assuming that f '
exists on the given interval). So if a function f always has a strictly positive derivative or a strictly
negative derivative, we cannot find a pair of numbers x1 and x2 which violate the condition for 1-
to1ness and the function is 1-to-1. This gives us a new way to check if a differentiable function f is 1-
to-1. We calculate the derivative f ' , if we can tell that it is always positive or always negative then we
can conclude that f is a 1-to-1 function. I Note that if the function is not differentiable of its derivatives
are not all strictly positive or strictly negative, we have no conclusion from this test.