Fundamental Theorem of Algebra Part I: The Theorem Foreshadowed

A far-reaching discovery in the late 1700s was to secure, even more so, the closing century's remarkable standing in the history of mathematics. The discovery was the Gaussian breakthrough called the Fundamental Theorem of Algebra, thus establishing that every polynomial equation has at least one complex solution; the year of resolution was 1799.

This bicentennial year of its discovery, we pause to note again the theoretical and unifying place such a theorem holds in an unfolding story of achievement, a story that leads into the golden era of mathematical growth of the turn of the millennium.

Table of Contents:

FAMOUS FORERUNNERS

CURIOUS COMPLEXITIES

EXISTENCE PROOFS VERSUS SOLUTIONS

CONFIDENCE IN THE COMPLEX

REFERENCES