English

A Generalisation of Niven's Theorem for Trigonometric Functions

Number Theory 2025-08-11 v1

Abstract

Niven's Theorem asserts that {cos(rπ)rQ}Q={0,±1,±12}\{\cos(r\pi)|r\in \mathbb{Q}\}\cap\mathbb{Q} = \{0, \pm 1, \pm\frac{1}{2}\}. This paper uses elementary methods to classify all elements in the sets {cosn(rπ)rQ,nN}Q\{\cos^n(r\pi)|r\in \mathbb{Q}, n \in \mathbb{N}\}\cap\mathbb{Q} and {sinn(rπ)rQ,nN}Q\{\sin^n(r\pi)|r\in \mathbb{Q}, n \in \mathbb{N}\}\cap\mathbb{Q}. Using some algebraic number theory, we extend this to a classification of all elements in {tann(rπ)rQ,nN}Q\{\tan^n(r\pi)|r\in \mathbb{Q}, n \in \mathbb{N}\}\cap\mathbb{Q}. Finally, we present a short Galois theoretic argument to provide a more conceptual understanding of the results.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2508.06415,
  title  = {A Generalisation of Niven's Theorem for Trigonometric Functions},
  author = {Adam Keilthy and Ailbhe Ní Ruairí},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2508.06415},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

Based on second author's bachelor's thesis. Comments welcome