Finding Zeros of Quartic Polynomials by Using Radicals Sureyya Sahin
[email protected] June 24, 2018 Abstract is named a quartic polynomial when the degree of the polynomial, that is, the highest power of We present a technique for finding roots of a quar- the polynomial is four. Similarly, a cubic polyno- tic general polynomial equation of a single vari- mial has the highest degree three while a quadratic able by using radicals. The solution of quar- polynomial has the highest degree two. tic polynomial equations requires knowledge of Based on these elementary definitions, we state lower degree polynomial equations; therefore, we that our study will be on solving a general sin- study solving polynomial equations of degree less gle variable quartic polynomial equation by rad- than four as well. We present self-reciprocal poly- icals. By radicals, we mean expressions which nomials as a specialization and additionally solve are a combination of the sums, differences, quo- a numerical example. tients, products as well as the roots greater than or equal to two of the coefficients of the polynomial 1 Introduction [1]. Even though it is standard to learn solving quadratic polynomial equations by using radicals Solving polynomial equations have been a central in the contemporary curriculum, we don’t observe topic not only for its usage in pure mathematics a common interest in learning how to solve cubic but also in physical applications. Consequently, and quartic equations by such a method. In engi- solution of polynomial equations attracted inter- neering and applied sciences literature, we meet est peaking at the nineteenth century from mathe- other techniques for solving quartic polynomial maticians, which lead to development of modern equations; yet, we know that a general polyno- algebra.