English

Counting Separable Polynomials in $\mathbb{Z}/n[x]$

Rings and Algebras 2017-03-22 v1 Number Theory

Abstract

For a commutative ring RR, a polynomial fR[x]f\in R[x] is called separable if R[x]/fR[x]/f is a separable RR-algebra. We derive formulae for the number of separable polynomials when R=Z/nR = \mathbb{Z}/n, extending a result of L. Carlitz. For instance, we show that the number of separable polynomials in Z/n[x]\mathbb{Z}/n[x] that are separable is ϕ(n)ndi(1pid)\phi(n)n^d\prod_i(1-p_i^{-d}) where n=pikin = \prod p_i^{k_i} is the prime factorisation of nn and ϕ\phi is Euler's totient function.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1703.07064,
  title  = {Counting Separable Polynomials in $\mathbb{Z}/n[x]$},
  author = {Jason K. C. Polak},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1703.07064},
  year   = {2017}
}

Comments

6 pages, comments welcome. To appear in the Canadian Mathematical Bulletin

R2 v1 2026-06-22T18:52:01.922Z