English

Galois theory by calculator

Number Theory 2025-08-28 v2

Abstract

We present an algorithm to determine the Galois group of an irreducible monic polynomial f(x)Z[x]f(x) \in \mathbb{Z}[x] of degree at most five. Following work of Conrad, Dummit, and Stauduhar this comes down to answering two questions: Is a given integer a square? and Does a given polynomial have an integral root? Since these are both easily addressed with a calculator, our algorithm amounts to Galois theory by calculator. For example, we have an implementation at Desmos.com. In an appendix we present a simplified version of our algorithm, suitable for a handheld calculator, in case f(x)=xn+px+qf(x) = x^n + px + q.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2508.18595,
  title  = {Galois theory by calculator},
  author = {Thomas W. Mattman and Dylan Robertson-Figaniak and Zoe Steele},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2508.18595},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

8 pages v2 Corrected typo in author's name

R2 v1 2026-07-01T05:05:39.771Z