VOL. 80, NO. 1, FEBRUARY 2007 67
residues mod p, and, mod q, they consist of p − 1 copies of each of the quadratic
residues mod q.
Acknowledgment. Thanks to the referees for suggestions that greatly improved the paper.
REFERENCES
1. Tom M. Apostol, Introduction to Analytic Number Theory, Springer-Verlag, New York, 1976.
2. Richard K. Guy, Unsolved Problems in Number Theory, 3rd ed., Springer, New York, 2004.
3. E. S. Selmer and ¨O. Beyer, On the linear diophantine problem of Frobenius in three variables, J. reine angew.
Math., 301 (1978) 161–170.
4. J. J. Sylvester, Question 7382, Mathematical Questions from the Educational Times, 37 (1884) 26.
Factoring Quartic Polynomials: A Lost Art
GARY BROOKFIELD
California State University
Los Angeles CA 90032-8204
gbrookf@calstatela.edu
You probably know how to factor the cubic polynomial x3 − 4x2 + 4x − 3 into
(x − 3)(x2 − x + 1). But can you factor the quartic polynomial x4 − 8x3 + 22x2 −
19x − 8?
Curiously, techniques for factoring quartic polynomials over the rationals are never
discussed in modern algebra textbooks. Indeed, Theorem 1 of this note, giving conditions
for the reducibility of quartic polynomials, appears in the literature, so far as I
know, in only one other place—on page 553 (the very last page) of Algebra, Part 1 by
G. Chrystal [3], first published in 1886. Interest in the theory of equations, the subject
of this book and many others of similar vintage, seems to have faded, and the factorization
theory for quartic polynomials, presented in this note, seems to have been
forgotten. Perhaps it is time for a revival!
All polynomials in this note have rational coefficients, that is, all polynomials are
in Q[x]. Moreover, we are interested only in factorizations into polynomials in Q[x].
The factorization x2 − 2 = (x +
√
2)(x −
√
2) is not of this type since x +
√
2 and
x −
√
2 are not in Q[x]. In our context, x2 − 2 has no nontrivial factorizations and so is
irreducible. A polynomial, such as x3 − 4x2 + 4x − 3 = (x − 3)(x2 − x + 1), which
has a nontrivial factorization is said to be reducible. For a nice general discussion about
the factorization of polynomials over Q, see [1].
Basic tools for factoring polynomials are the following:
• Factor Theorem: Let f ∈ Q[x] and c ∈ Q. Then c is a root of f (that is, f (c) = 0)
if and only if x − c is a factor of f (x).
• Rational Roots Theorem: Let f (x) = an xn + an−1xn−1 +· · ·+a1x + a0 with integer
coefficients an , an−1, . . . , a0. If p/q is a rational number in lowest terms such
that f (p/q) = 0, then p divides a0 and q divides an .
These theorems suffice to factor any quadratic or cubic polynomial since such a
polynomial is reducible if and only if it has a root in Q. Finding such a root is made
easy by the rational roots theorem, and then long division yields the corresponding
factorization.
68 MATHEMATICS MAGAZINE
On the other hand, a quartic polynomial may factor into a product of two quadratic
polynomials but have no roots in Q. For example, f (x) = (x2 − 2)(x2 − 2) has no
roots inQbut obviously factors. Thus to determine whether or not a quartic polynomial
without rational roots is reducible, we need to know whether it factors into a product
of two quadratic polynomials. Theorem 1 shows that this question can be answered
using an associated cubic polynomial called the resolvent.
To simplify our presentation we will consider only polynomials in reduced form: If
f (x) = ax4 + bx3 + cx2 + dx + e ∈ Q[x] (with a = 0) is an arbitrary quartic polynomial,
then the reduced form of f is the polynomial f (x − b/4a)/a. For example,
the reduced form of f (x) = x4 − 8x3 + 22x2 − 19x − 8 is f (x + 2) = x4 − 2x2 +
5x − 6. The reduced form has leading coefficient one and no degree three term. It is
easy to see how a factorization of the reduced form gives a factorization of the original
polynomial (see Example 4). Thus we lose no generality in the following theorem by
assuming that f is already in the reduced form f (x) = x4 + cx2 + dx + e. In this
circumstance, the resolvent of f is the cubic polynomial
R(z) = z3 + 2c z2 + (c2 − 4e) z − d2.
Since it is easy to calculate the roots of f once it has been factored, it is no surprise
that the resolvent also appears in the many published methods for finding the roots of
quartic polynomials (see, for example, [2]).
In what follows we write Q2 = {s2 | s ∈ Q} for the set of squares in Q.
THEOREM 1. The quartic polynomial f (x) = x4 + cx2 + dx + e ∈ Q[x] factors
into quadratic polynomials in Q[x] if and only if (at least) one of the following holds:
(A) The resolvent R has a nonzero root in Q2.
(B) d = 0 and c2 − 4e ∈ Q2.
Proof. Suppose f factors as
f (x) = (x2 + hx + k)(x2 + h
x + k
), (1)
with h, h
, k, k
∈ Q. Multiplying (1) out and matching coefficients we get
0 = h + h
, e = kk
, (2)
d = hk
+ h
k, c = hh
+ k + k
. (3)
In particular, h
= −h. The equations in (3) are linear in k and k
and can be solved to
yield
2hk = h3 + ch − d, 2hk
= h3 + ch + d. (4)
From e = kk
and (4) we get
4h2e = (2hk)(2hk
) = (h3 + ch − d)(h3 + ch + d). (5)
Multiplying this out we get
h6 + 2c h4 + (c2 − 4e) h2 − d2 = 0, (6)
and so h2 is a root of the resolvent R. If h = 0, then (A) of the theorem holds. Otherwise,
h = 0 and (6) implies that d = 0 and, from (2) and (3), we get c2 − 4e =
(k + k
)2 − 4kk
= (k − k
)2 ∈ Q2. Thus, in this case, (B) of the theorem holds.
Now suppose that the resolvent R has a nonzero root in Q2. Then there is some
nonzero h ∈ Q such that (6) holds. Set
VOL. 80, NO. 1, FEBRUARY 2007 69
h
= −h, k = 1
2h
(h3 + ch − d), k
= 1
2h
(h3 + ch + d). (7)
Then h
, k, k
∈ Q and, since (5) follows from (6), the equations (2) and (3) hold. Thus
f factors into quadratic polynomials in Q[x] as in (1).
Suppose that d = 0 and c2 − 4e ∈ Q2. Then c2 − 4e = s2 for some s ∈ Q. Set
h = h
= 0, k = (c + s)/2 and k
= (c − s)/2. (8)
Then h, h
, k, k
∈ Q and k + k
= c, kk
= (c2 − s2)/4 = e, f (x) = (x2 + k)(x2 +
k
), and so once again f factors into quadratic polynomials in Q[x].
From the proof of this theorem we can extract an algorithm for factoring a quartic
polynomial f in reduced form. First, using the rational roots theorem, look for a
rational root of f . If c ∈ Q is such a root, then, by the factor theorem, we know that
f (x) = (x − c) g(x) for some cubic polynomial g (which can be determined by long
division). If f has no rational roots, we look for rational roots of the resolvent R. If
h2 ∈ Q2 is a nonzero root of R, then condition (A) of Theorem 1 holds, and (7) and (1)
give a factorization of f . If condition (B) of Theorem 1 holds, then equations (8) and
(1) determine a factorization of f . If these steps fail to produce a factorization, then f
is irreducible.
EXAMPLE 1. Let f (x) = x4 + x2 + x + 1. Then neither f nor the resolvent
R(z) = z3 + 2z2 − 3z − 1 has a rational root. Thus f is irreducible.
EXAMPLE 2. Let f (x) = x4 + 2x2 + 5x + 11. Then f has no rational roots, and
the resolvent R(z) = z3 + 4z2 − 40z − 25 has one rational root, namely 5, which is
not in Q2. Thus f is irreducible.
EXAMPLE 3. Let f (x) = x4 − 12x2 − 3x + 2. Then f has no rational roots, and
the resolvent R(z) = z3 − 24z2 + 136z − 9 has one rational root, namely 9 ∈ Q2. Thus
f is reducible. Setting h =
√
9 = 3 in (7) and (1) we get f (x) = (x2 + 3x − 1)(x2 −
3x − 2).
EXAMPLE 4. Let f (x) = x4 − 8x3 + 22x2 − 19x − 8, the motivating example
from the beginning of this note. Then f has no rational roots. The reduced form
of this polynomial is f (x + 2) = x4 − 2x2 + 5x − 6, and its resolvent is R(z) =
z3 − 4z2 + 28z − 25 with one rational root, namely, 1 ∈ Q2. Thus f is reducible.
Setting h =
√
1 = 1 in (7) and (1) we get f (x + 2) = (x2 + x − 3)(x2 − x + 2) and
so f (x) = (x2 − 3x − 1)(x2 − 5x + 8).
We conclude by investigating the interesting special case when f (x) = x4 + cx2 +
e. If r ∈ Q is a root of f (x) = x4 + cx2 + e then so is −r, and x2 − r 2 ∈ Q[x] divides
f . Thus f is reducible if and only if it factors into two quadratic polynomials.
Since d = 0, the resolvent of f is
R(z) = z z2 + 2c z + (c2 − 4e) ,
with roots 0,−c ± 2
√
e. Theorem 1 now provides a test for the irreducibility of f :
THEOREM 2. [4, Theorem 2] A quartic polynomial f (x) = x4 + cx2 + e ∈ Q[x]
is reducible if and only if c2 − 4e ∈ Q2 or −c + 2
√
e ∈ Q2 or −c − 2
√
e ∈ Q2. For
the conditions involving
√
e to hold it is, of course, necessary that e ∈ Q2.
EXAMPLE 5. If f (x) = x4 − 3x2 + 1, then c = −3 and e = 1.We have c2 − 4e =
5 ∈ Q2, −c + 2
√
e = 5 ∈ Q2 and −c − 2
√
e = 1 ∈ Q2. Thus f is reducible. To cal70
MATHEMATICS MAGAZINE
culate the factorization we set h = 1 in (7) and (1) to get f (x) = (x2 + x − 1)(x2 −
x − 1).
EXAMPLE 6. If f (x) = x4 − 16x2 + 4, then c = −16 and e = 4. We have c2 −
4e = 240 ∈ Q2, −c + 2
√
e = 20 ∈ Q2 and −c − 2
√
e = 12 ∈ Q2, and so f is irreducible.
REFERENCES
1. H.L. Dorwarts, Can This Polynomial Be Factored? Two-Year College Math. J., 8(2) (1977) 67–72.
2. William F. Carpenter, On the Solution of the Real Quartic, this MAGAZINE, 39 (1966) 28–30.
3. G. Chrystal, Algebra, An Elementary Textbook, Part I, Seventh ed., AMS Chelsea Pub., 1964.
4. L. Kappe and B. Warren, An Elementary Test for the Galois Group of a Quartic Polynomial, Amer. Math.
Monthly, 96 (1989) 133–137.
Butterflies in Quadrilaterals:
A Comment on a Note by Sidney Kung
EISSO J . ATZEMA
University of Maine
Orono, ME 04469-5752
atzema@math.umaine.edu
In the October 2005 issue of Mathematics Magazine, Sidney Kung published a note on
a theorem on butterflies inscribed in a quadrilateral which bears remarkable similarity
to the usual Butterfly Theorem (see [5]).