Abstract
Perhaps the main reason for the invention of complex numbers was the fact that certain polynomials in ℝ[x] had no roots in ℝ, for example x2+ 1,x2 + x+ 1, x2 + 2, etc. By defining ℂ, the complex numbers, mathematicians provided “imaginary” roots for these polynomials, by, in essence, inventing them.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1979 Springer-Verlag New York Inc.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Childs, L. (1979). Polynomials and Roots. In: A Concrete Introduction to Higher Algebra. Undergraduate Texts in Mathematics. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-0065-6_36
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-0065-6_36
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4684-0067-0
Online ISBN: 978-1-4684-0065-6
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive