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In general a quadratic field of field discriminant can be obtained as a subfield of a cyclotomic field of -th roots of unity. This expresses the fact that the conductor of a quadratic field is the absolute value of its discriminant, a special case of the conductor-discriminant formula.
Geometrically, the discriminant of a quadratic form in three variables is the equation of a quadratic projective curve. The discriminant is zero if and only if the curve is decomposed in lines (possibly over an algebraically closed extension of the field). A quadratic form in four variables is the equation of a projective surface.
Repeated discriminants: the discriminant of a quadratic field uniquely identifies it, but this is not true, in general, for higher-degree number fields. For example, there are two non-isomorphic cubic fields of discriminant 3969. They are obtained by adjoining a root of the polynomial x 3 − 21x + 28 or x 3 − 21x − 35, respectively. [7]
For quadratic equations with rational coefficients, if the discriminant is a square number, then the roots are rational—in other cases they may be quadratic irrationals. If the discriminant is zero, then there is exactly one real root − b 2 a , {\displaystyle -{\frac {b}{2a}},} sometimes called a repeated or double root or two equal roots.
For the real quadratic field = (with d square-free), the fundamental unit ε is commonly normalized so that ε > 1 (as a real number). Then it is uniquely characterized as the minimal unit among those that are greater than 1. If Δ denotes the discriminant of K, then the fundamental unit is
Its discriminant as quadratic form need not be +1 (in fact this happens only for the case K = Q). Define the inverse different or codifferent [ 3 ] [ 4 ] or Dedekind's complementary module [ 5 ] as the set I of x ∈ K such that tr( xy ) is an integer for all y in O K , then I is a fractional ideal of K containing O K .
Simultaneously generalizing the case of imaginary quadratic fields and cyclotomic fields is the case of a CM field K, i.e. a totally imaginary quadratic extension of a totally real field. In 1974, Harold Stark conjectured that there are finitely many CM fields of class number 1. [ 12 ]
For given low class number (such as 1, 2, and 3), Gauss gives lists of imaginary quadratic fields with the given class number and believes them to be complete. Infinitely many real quadratic fields with class number one Gauss conjectures that there are infinitely many real quadratic fields with class number one.