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Finding the roots (zeros) of a given polynomial has been a prominent mathematical problem.. Solving linear, quadratic, cubic and quartic equations in terms of radicals and elementary arithmetic operations on the coefficients can always be done, no matter whether the roots are rational or irrational, real or complex; there are formulas that yield the required solutions.
Completing the cube is a similar technique that allows to transform a cubic polynomial into a cubic polynomial without term of degree two. More precisely, if + + + is a polynomial in x such that , its two first terms are the two first terms of the expanded form of
A solution in radicals or algebraic solution is an expression of a solution of a polynomial equation that is algebraic, that is, relies only on addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, raising to integer powers, and extraction of n th roots (square roots, cube roots, etc.). A well-known example is the quadratic formula
The most efficient algorithms allow solving easily (on a computer) polynomial equations of degree higher than 1,000 (see Root-finding algorithm). For polynomials with more than one indeterminate, the combinations of values for the variables for which the polynomial function takes the value zero are generally called zeros instead of "roots".
Algebraic geometry is a branch of mathematics which uses abstract algebraic techniques, mainly from commutative algebra, to solve geometrical problems.Classically, it studies zeros of multivariate polynomials; the modern approach generalizes this in a few different aspects.
The methods for solving equations generally depend on the type of equation, both the kind of expressions in the equation and the kind of values that may be assumed by the unknowns. The variety in types of equations is large, and so are the corresponding methods. Only a few specific types are mentioned below.
Something more general is required for equations of higher degree, so to solve the quintic, Hermite, et al. replaced the exponential by an elliptic modular function and the integral (logarithm) by an elliptic integral. Kronecker believed that this was a special case of a still more general method. [1]
This method works well for cubic and quartic equations, but Lagrange did not succeed in applying it to a quintic equation, because it requires solving a resolvent polynomial of degree at least six. [ 37 ] [ 38 ] [ 39 ] Apart from the fact that nobody had previously succeeded, this was the first indication of the non-existence of an algebraic ...