Van der Waerden’s conjecture mystified mathematicians for 85 years. Its solution shows how polynomial roots relate to one another. The equation x 2 – 5 = 0 is a bit trickier. The polynomial can’t be ...

Before being mortally wounded in a duel at age 20, Évariste Galois discovered the hidden structure of polynomial equations. By studying the relationships between their solutions — rather than the ...

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