that for every four kissing (mutually tangent) circles, their radii satisfy a particular quadratic equation. The equation given by Fuss' theorem, giving the relation among the radius of a bicentric quadrilateral's inscribed circle, the radius of its circumscribed circle, and the distance between the centers of those circles, can be expressed as a quadratic equation for which the distance between the two circles' centers in terms of their radii is one of the solutions. The other solution of the same equation in terms of the relevant radii gives the distance between the circumscribed circle's center and the center of the excircle of an ex-tangential quadrilateral. Critical points of a cubic function and inflection points of a quartic function are found by solving a quadratic equation. History Babylonian mathematicians, as early as 2000 BC (displayed on Old Babylonian clay tablets) could solve problems relating the areas and sides of rectangles. There is evidence dating this algorithm as far back as the Third Dynasty of Ur. In modern notation, the problems typically involved solving a pair of simultaneous equations of the form: which is equivalent to the statement that and are the roots of the equation: The steps given by Babylonian scribes for solving the above rectangle problem, in terms of and , were as follows: Compute half of p. Square the result. Subtract q. Find the (positive) square root using a table of squares. Add together the results of steps (1) and (4) to give . In modern notation this means calculating , which is equivalent to the modern day quadratic formula for the larger real root (if any) with , , and . Geometric methods were used to solve quadratic equations in Babylonia, Egypt, Greece, China, and India. The Egyptian Berlin Papyrus, dating back to the Middle Kingdom (2050 BC to 1650 BC), contains the solution to a two-term quadratic equation. Babylonian mathematicians from circa 400 BC and Chinese mathematicians from circa 200 BC used geometric methods of dissection to solve quadratic equations with positive roots. Rules for quadratic equations were given in The Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art, a Chinese treatise on mathematics. These early geometric methods do not appear to have had a general formula. Euclid, the Greek mathematician, produced a more abstract geometrical method around 300 BC. With a purely geometric approach Pythagoras and Euclid created a general procedure to find solutions of the quadratic equation.