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Therefore, the solution = is extraneous and not valid, and the original equation has no solution. For this specific example, it could be recognized that (for the value x = − 2 {\displaystyle x=-2} ), the operation of multiplying by ( x − 2 ) ( x + 2 ) {\displaystyle (x-2)(x+2)} would be a multiplication by zero.
A solution in radicals or algebraic solution is an expression of a solution of a polynomial equation that is algebraic, that is, relies only on addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, raising to integer powers, and extraction of n th roots (square roots, cube roots, etc.). A well-known example is the quadratic formula
In philosophy, Occam's razor (also spelled Ockham's razor or Ocham's razor; Latin: novacula Occami) is the problem-solving principle that recommends searching for explanations constructed with the smallest possible set of elements.
Casus irreducibilis (from Latin 'the irreducible case') is the name given by mathematicians of the 16th century to cubic equations that cannot be solved in terms of real radicals, that is to those equations such that the computation of the solutions cannot be reduced to the computation of square and cube roots.
The nested radicals in this solution cannot in general be simplified unless the cubic equation has at least one rational solution. Indeed, if the cubic has three irrational but real solutions, we have the casus irreducibilis, in which all three real solutions are written in terms of cube roots of complex numbers. On the other hand, consider the ...
Specifically, a polynomial equation is solvable in radicals if and only if the corresponding Galois group is solvable [1] (note this theorem holds only in characteristic 0). This means associated to a polynomial f ∈ F [ x ] {\displaystyle f\in F[x]} there is a tower of field extensions
So, if one starts from a solution in terms of radicals, one gets an increasing sequence of fields such that the last one contains the solution, and each is a normal extension of the preceding one with a Galois group that is cyclic. Conversely, if one has such a sequence of fields, the equation is solvable in terms of radicals.
Radical extensions occur naturally when solving polynomial equations in radicals. In fact a solution in radicals is the expression of the solution as an element of a radical series: a polynomial f over a field K is said to be solvable by radicals if there is a splitting field of f over K contained in a radical extension of K.