This Accountant is Fire!
This article is the beginning of a multipart series on the story of mathematicians Niccolò Tartaglia, Gerolamo Cardano and Lodovico Ferrari. Back in the early sixteenth century, the math world was a very competitive place. Solutions to problems were provided through puzzles and poetry, friendships were precarious, and some people even died taking their mathematical secrets to the grave. In this story, a century before the sixteenth century, a friar named Fra Luca Bartolomeo de Pacioli laid down the mathematical gauntlet, which stirred inquiry and curiosity in the competitive world of math.
Pacioli was a notable person, not just in mathematics but also in accounting and magic. He was also close friends with Leonardo da Vinci, the genius overachiever we all know and love. At one point in his life, da Vinci and Pacioli used to be roommates and close friends.
Pacioli was born around 1447 in the Tuscan area of Italy and the city called Sansepolcro. Even though his father was still alive, he lived with a family named Befolci. Growing up, he received an abbaco education, which means his focus was mathematics. In addition to his traditional education, he also studied at the studio of the artist and mathematician Piero della Francesca. Pacioli completely admired della Francesca. And he learned a great deal not only as a mathematician but also as an artist.[1]
