We all learned the
general solution of the quadratic equation at school. But did
you learn how to extract the roots of a cubic equation? There is a
general
solution for the cubic. Read it and weep.
Quartic equations are, of course, even worse
- you have to convert to a depressed quartic, and then use
Ferrari's solution. Feeling depressed yet?
When you move up to quintic equations,
it starts getting really tricky, they're only solvable if the
Galois group is a solvable group. It's a mess. Galois died when he
was 20, in a duel.
But don't worry about any of that. Because I'm not giving you a
quadratic, a cubic, a quartic or even a quintic. What I'm giving
you is so horrible, it doesn't even have a name, although if it
did, it would be a hexic or maybe a sexic? I like "sexic". So,
here's your sexic equation.
x6 - 32x5 + 415x4 -
2780x3 + 10084x2 - 18608x + 13440 = 0
If you remember the fundamental theorem of algebra, then you'll
know that this gives you six solutions. Arrange them in increasing
sequence, and call then abcdef. Then the cache is at N 51° 43.caf W
000° 39.bde
But before you rush off to retreive it, you'll need some Special
Equipment - a Phillips head screwdriver.
First to find - Bob Smith