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Cyclotomic and double angle polynomials

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2016

K. Robin McLean*
Affiliation:
Dept of Education, University of Liverpool, PO Box 147, Liverpool L69 3BX

Extract

One admires and applauds the enterprise of anyone who uses Gauss’s 1801 Disquisitiones arithmeticae as the starting point for mathematical exploration. I enjoyed McKeon and Sherry’s description of their journey [1] and the challenge of their conjectures. They drew attention to a class of polynomials that satisfy what they called the double angle condition ((1) below). Unfortunately, their failure to work with an appropriate definition of cyclotomic polynomials seriously handicapped their computer-aided attempt to classify double angle polynomials. Once this is remedied, a pleasant classification emerges, at least for polynomials with rational coefficients, without recourse to a computer. The main aim of this article is to present this classification. A brief final section considers McKeon and Sherry’s conjectures about irreducible double angle polynomials.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © The Mathematical Association 2004

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References

1. McKeon, D. G. C. and Sherry, T. N., Exploring cyclotomic polynomials, Math. Gaz. 85 (March 2001) pp. 5965.Google Scholar
2. Lang, S., Algebra, Addison-Wesley (1965).Google Scholar
3. Stewart, I., Galois Theory (1st edn), Chapman and Hall (1973).Google Scholar