1 Number Theory and Graph Theory Chapter 3 Arithmetic functions and roots of unity By A. Satyanarayana Reddy Department of Mathematics Shiv Nadar University Uttar Pradesh, India E-mail:
[email protected] 2 Module-4: nth roots of unity Objectives • Properties of nth roots of unity and primitive nth roots of unity. • Properties of Cyclotomic polynomials. Definition 1. Let n 2 N. Then, a complex number z is called 1. an nth root of unity if it satisfies the equation xn = 1, i.e., zn = 1. 2. a primitive nth root of unity if n is the smallest positive integer for which zn = 1. That is, zn = 1 but zk 6= 1 for any k;1 ≤ k ≤ n − 1. 2pi zn = exp( n ) is a primitive n-th root of unity. k • Note that zn , for 0 ≤ k ≤ n − 1, are the n distinct n-th roots of unity. • The nth roots of unity are located on the unit circle of the complex plane, and in that plane they form the vertices of an n-sided regular polygon with one vertex at (1;0) and centered at the origin. The following points are collected from the article Cyclotomy and cyclotomic polynomials by B.Sury, Resonance, 1999. 1. Cyclotomy - literally circle-cutting - was a puzzle begun more than 2000 years ago by the Greek geometers. In their pastime, they used two implements - a ruler to draw straight lines and a compass to draw circles. 2. The problem of cyclotomy was to divide the circumference of a circle into n equal parts using only these two implements.