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In mathematics, the root test is a criterion for the convergence (a convergence test) of an infinite series.It depends on the quantity | |, where are the terms of the series, and states that the series converges absolutely if this quantity is less than one, but diverges if it is greater than one.
If the rational root test finds no rational solutions, then the only way to express the solutions algebraically uses cube roots. But if the test finds a rational solution r, then factoring out (x – r) leaves a quadratic polynomial whose two roots, found with the quadratic formula, are the remaining two roots of the cubic, avoiding cube roots.
If r = 1, the root test is inconclusive, and the series may converge or diverge. The root test is stronger than the ratio test: whenever the ratio test determines the convergence or divergence of an infinite series, the root test does too, but not conversely.
In fact, if the ratio test works (meaning that the limit exists and is not equal to 1) then so does the root test; the converse, however, is not true. The root test is therefore more generally applicable, but as a practical matter the limit is often difficult to compute for commonly seen types of series. Integral test. The series can be ...
An illustration of Newton's method. In numerical analysis, the Newton–Raphson method, also known simply as Newton's method, named after Isaac Newton and Joseph Raphson, is a root-finding algorithm which produces successively better approximations to the roots (or zeroes) of a real-valued function.
The rational root test allows finding q and p by examining a finite number of cases (because q must be a divisor of a, and p must be a divisor of d). Thus, one root is =, and the other roots are the roots of the other factor, which can be found by polynomial long division.
In modular arithmetic, a number g is a primitive root modulo n if every number a coprime to n is congruent to a power of g modulo n. That is, g is a primitive root modulo n if for every integer a coprime to n, there is some integer k for which g k ≡ a (mod n). Such a value k is called the index or discrete logarithm of a to the base g modulo n.
Examples of unexpected applications of mathematical theories can be found in many areas of mathematics. A notable example is the prime factorization of natural numbers that was discovered more than 2,000 years before its common use for secure internet communications through the RSA cryptosystem. [127]