Exercise on cyclotomic polynomials

  1. Prove a) that the product of two nth roots of unity is again an nth root of unity, b) and the inverse of a nth root of unity is is a nth root of unity.

  2. Let 𝐢n the set of the nth roots of unity. Prove the existence of a bijection f between 𝐢n and β„€n, such that f1ζ2) = f1) + f2) for every ζ12 ∈ 𝐢n.

  3. Prove that for every d|n there exists a d-th root of the unit that has d has order. Count for each d how many n-th roots of the unit having the same order d are there.

  4. Evaluate the unique factorization in terms of irreducible factors over β„š of the following polynomials:

    x18 βˆ’ 1,   x20 βˆ’ 1,   x21 βˆ’ 1,   x30 βˆ’ 1.

Solutions

  1. If αn = 1 and βn = 1 , then (αβ)n = αnβn = 1. If ζn = 1 taking the βˆ’1 power of both sides we get (1/ζ)n = 1.

  2. Note that e^x e^y = e^(x + y) for all x, y. Define f: 𝐢n ⟢ β„€n as f(ζk) = [k]; e.g. if we take 𝐢2 = {βˆ’1,1} and β„€2={[0],[1]}, then f(βˆ’10)= [0] and f(11)=[1]

  3. It sufficies to consider ζn/d, with ζ primitive root of xn βˆ’ 1 because

    (ΞΆ(n/d))d = ΞΆn = 1.

    ΞΆ(n/d) has order d. For every d|n there are Ο†(d) primitive n-th roots of unity with order d.

  4. x18 βˆ’ 1 = Φ1 β‹… Φ2 β‹… Φ3 β‹… Φ6 β‹… Φ9 β‹… Φ18 = (x βˆ’ 1) (x + 1) (x2 + x + 1) (x2 βˆ’x +1) (x6 + x3 + 1) (x6 βˆ’ x3 + 1). Where Φ18 can be obtained by long division oi x18 βˆ’ 1 by the other lnown cyclotomic polynomials.

    x20 βˆ’ 1 = Φ1 β‹… Φ2 β‹… Φ4 β‹… Φ5 β‹… Φ10 β‹… Φ20 = (x βˆ’ 1) (x + 1) (x2 + 1) (x4 + x3 + x2 + x + 1)(x4 βˆ’ x3 + x2 βˆ’x +1)(x8 βˆ’x6 + x4 βˆ’ x2 +1).

    x21 βˆ’ 1 = Φ1 β‹… Φ3 β‹… Φ7 β‹… Φ21 = (x βˆ’ 1) (x2 + x + 1) (x6 + x5 + x4 +x3 + x2 + x +1) (x12 βˆ’ x11 + x9 βˆ’ x8 + x6 βˆ’ x4 + x3 βˆ’x +1). β– 

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