Solving cubic equations roots using

Cardano-Tartaglia Method
clovisguerim
May 2018

1 Introduction
Solving cubic equations can be tough, but the Cardano-Tartaglia method is
the best option if you think that’s impossible to guess one of the roots. Instead,
you can calculate one of those roots by using this method. In general, a cubic
equation can be written in the following form: ax + bx + cx + d = 0. The main
proposal of the Cardano-Tartaglia method is to exterminate the second order
term, turning the equation above into its depressed form, i.e. x3 + px + q = 0 .

2 Tschirnhaus Transformation
In order to transform the cubic equation into its depressed form, we have to
perform a transformation of the kind x → x + λ witch eliminate the second
order term of the cubic equation.

The general form of the cubic equation is: ax3 + bx2 + cx + d = 0.

By using the transformation x → x + λ, we can rewrite the equation above

as:

a(x + λ)3 + b(x + λ)2 + c(x + λ) + d = 0

a(x3 + 3xλ2 + 3λx2 + λ3 ) + b(x2 + 2xλ + λ2 ) + c(x + λ) + d = 0

if we want to cancel the second order term, we need to evaluate a convenient λ

for this:

−b
3aλx2 = −bx2 ⇒ λ = 3a

So, doing this substitution in x, we will have:

b3 3
ax3 + (c − 3a )x + ( 2b
27 −
bc
3a + d) = 0

1
by dividing both sides by a we can write the equation in its depressed form
b3 2b3
x3 + px + q = 0 where p = ac − 3a bc d
2 and q = 27a − 3a2 + a

3 Cardano-Tartaglia Method
Once we have determined the depressed form of the cubic equation, we can
apply the Cardano-Tartaglia Method to find one of their roots. To understand
how, first expand (trough binomial theorem) the expression (t − u)3 :
P3 3!
(t + u)3 = k=0 k!(3−k)! t
3−k k
u

(t + u)3 = t3 + 3t2 u + 3tu2 + u3 ⇒ (t3 + u3 ) = (t + u)3 + 3tu(t + u)

if we recall q = −(t3 + u3 ), x = (t + u) and p = 3tu we will have the de-

pressed form of cubic equation.
p p 3 p3
We can observe that u = 3t and q = −t3 − ( 3t ) ⇒ qt3 = −t6 − 27 .
3
t6 + qt3 + p27 = 0, note that we can find the roots for this equation making
t3 = y and solving the second order equation roots problem.
q
q2 p3
Doing this, you must find t3 = −q
2 ± 4 − 27

p
Finally, x = t + 3t , but this is the x transformed, let call this x0 . x =
0 b
x + 3a ⇒ the root.