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On linear relations between roots of unity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 February 2010

Henry B. Mann
Affiliation:
The University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, U.S.A.
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Extract

In a recent paper I. J. Schoenberg [1] considered relations

where the av are rational integers and the ζv are roots of unity. We may in (1) replace all negative coefficients av by −av replacing at the same time ζv by −ζv so that we may, if it is convenient, assume that all av are positive. If we do this and arrange the ζr so that their arguments do not decrease with v then (1) can, as suggested by Schoenberg (oral communication) be interpreted as a convex polygon with integral sides whose angles are rational when measured in degrees. Accordingly we shall call a relation (1) a polygon if all av are non-negative. We shall call a polygon (1) k-sided if all av are positive. The polygon is called degenerate if two of the ζv are equal. Schoenberg calls these polygons polar rational polygons (abbreviated prp) because the vectors composing them have rational coordinates in their polar representations. Schoenberg showed that every prp can be obtained as a linear combination with integral positive or negative coefficients of regular p-gons where p is a prime.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © University College London 1965

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References

1.Schoenberg, I. J., “A note on the cyclotomic polynomial”, Mathematika, 11 (1964), 131136.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2.Waerden, B. L. van der, Modern Algebra, vol. 1. (Frederic Ungar Publishing Co., New York, 1948).Google Scholar