Afloyd.197
net.math
utzoo!decvax!duke!harpo!floyd!amicus
Thu May 6 09:01:30 1982


An algebraic number is a number that is the root of a polynomial
equation with integer coefficients.  So rational numbers are a subset
of algebraic numbers, since rational numbers are solutions of qx-p=0,
where q and p are integers.

The sine and cosine table in the back of your high school algebra book
probably had entries for each angle in degrees from 0 to 45.  Clearly,
the numbers in the book are algebraic numbers, since they were something
like .4723 (4723/10000).  How many of these sine and cosine values are
REALLY algebraic numbers?

John Eldridge   floyd!amicus