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clicl...@freenet.de" schrieb:
According to old notes of mine, a simple way to split any suitable
quartic:
a + b*x + c*x^2 + d*x^3 + e*x^4
into quadratics is by factorizing its resolvent:
4*a*c*e - a*d^2 - b^2*e + e*(b*d - 4*a*e)*y - c*e^2*y^2 + e^3*y^3
and expressing the quadratics in terms of any one resolvent root y as:
1/(4*e)*(e*y - e*(d*y - 2*b)/SQRT(d^2 + 4*e*(e*y - c))
+ (d - SQRT(d^2 + 4*e*(e*y - c)))*x + 2*e*x^2)
*(e*y + e*(d*y - 2*b)/SQRT(d^2 + 4*e*(e*y - c))
+ (d + SQRT(d^2 + 4*e*(e*y - c)))*x + 2*e*x^2)
which applies if d^2 + 4*e*(e*y - c) /= 0 and doesn't involve a, or as:
1/(4*e)*(e*y - SQRT(e*(e*y^2 - 4*a))
+ (d - e*(d*y - 2*b)/SQRT(e*(e*y^2 - 4*a)))*x + 2*e*x^2)
*(e*y + SQRT(e*(e*y^2 - 4*a))
+ (d + e*(d*y - 2*b)/SQRT(e*(e*y^2 - 4*a)))*x + 2*e*x^2)
which applies if e*y^2 - 4*a /= 0 and doesn't involve c. For d^2 +
4*e*(e*y - c) = 0 one can use:
1/(4*e)*(e*y - SQRT(e*(e*y^2 - 4*a)) + d*x + 2*e*x^2)
*(e*y + SQRT(e*(e*y^2 - 4*a)) + d*x + 2*e*x^2)
while for e*y^2 - 4*a = 0 one finds:
1/(4*e)*(e*y + (d - SQRT(d^2 + 4*e*(e*y - c)))*x + 2*e*x^2)
*(e*y + (d + SQRT(d^2 + 4*e*(e*y - c)))*x + 2*e*x^2)
As no cube roots can appear, this way of splitting a quartic is
advantageous whenever its resolvent possesses at least one rational
root. Indeed, the resolvent of 64*z^4 + 64*z^3 + 32*z^2 - 8*z + 1
simply is:
(4*y - 3)*(4*y + 1)*y
Using all three resolvent roots in turn yields three different ways of
splitting the quartic; if the quartic is real, at least one pair of
factors is real as well.
Martin.