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 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 .
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