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An Elementary Proof of the Fundamental Theorem of Tropical Algebra

Combinatorics 2007-07-18 v1

Abstract

In this paper we give an elementary proof of the Fundamental Theorem of Algebra for polynomials over the rational tropical semi-ring. We prove that, tropically, the rational numbers are algebraically closed. We provide a simple algorithm for factoring tropical polynomials of a single variable. A central idea is the concept of least-coefficient polynomials as representatives for classes of functionally equivalent polynomials. This idea has importance far beyond the proof of the Fundamental Theorem of Tropical Algebra.

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Cite

@article{arxiv.0707.2591,
  title  = {An Elementary Proof of the Fundamental Theorem of Tropical Algebra},
  author = {Nathan Grigg and Nathan Manwaring},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0707.2591},
  year   = {2007}
}

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8 pages