Afloyd.197
net.math
utzoo!decvax!duke!harpo!floyd!amicus
Thu May 6 09:01:30 1982
An algebraic number is a number that is the root of a polynomial
equation with integer coefficients. So rational numbers are a subset
of algebraic numbers, since rational numbers are solutions of qx-p=0,
where q and p are integers.
The sine and cosine table in the back of your high school algebra book
probably had entries for each angle in degrees from 0 to 45. Clearly,
the numbers in the book are algebraic numbers, since they were something
like .4723 (4723/10000). How many of these sine and cosine values are
REALLY algebraic numbers?
John Eldridge floyd!amicus
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