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From: hoford@sequoia.circ.upenn.edu (John Hoford)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.handhelds
Subject: Re: Finding roots of Tertiary and above equations?
Message-ID: <40762@netnews.upenn.edu>
Date: 9 Apr 91 14:25:19 GMT
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In article <21917@shlump.nac.dec.com> edp@jareth.enet.dec.com (Eric Postpischil (Always mount a scratch monkey.)) writes:
>I'm not quite sure what you are asking.  However, my statement did not
>mean to exclude square roots. 

I a not quite sure ether.

> For example, sqrt(2) is considered an
> exact algebraic solution to x^2=2.

But what is sqrt(2)? The only way I know it is as the solution to x^2=2.

I gusss what I am asking is, what does it meen to say something
has an algebraic soloution and
is ther any thing realy special about 5'th and above degree
polynomials.

if i defined a function f(k,a0,a1,...an)
which gave me the k'th soloution
to a polynomials of order n whose terms were a0..an 
and defined it as part of my "algebra" then any 
polynomial would have an "algebraic" soloution.
What makes the functions sqrt() and "x^(1/y)" ok to use?
Is this just convention?


John Hoford