How would I Factor Polynomials over complex numbers?

asked 10 years ago

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Ok, I was in sage attempting some factoring of polynomials:

x^2-4 gave: (x-2)(x+2)

x^2-2 gave: x^2-2

how would i get this in (x-a)(x+a) for x^2 -a^2 when x,a are complex?

1 Answer

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Use polynomials over the complex ring CC:

sage: R.<x> = CC[]
sage: p=x^2+2
sage: p.factor()
(x - 1.41421356237310*I) * (x + 1.41421356237310*I)

okay i got what i wanted now how would i get it as symbolic (like sqrt(-2) instead of 1.4142135...)

Chernoxyl ( 10 years ago )

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Asked: 10 years ago

Seen: 2,004 times

Last updated: Aug 31 '14