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Talk:Descartes' rule of signs

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The rule is on page 42. Maybe this is interesting: Descartes also makes the statement that you can determine the number of negative roots (called "false" by Descartes) by counting unchanging signs between consecutive coefficients. Descartes does not say what to do with coefficients that are zero, but
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I don't know why you think that the complex roots version of the rule only applies to purely imaginary roots. This is not correct. Perhaps you were misled by the simple example in that section. I have replaced that example with a more general one where the complex roots are not purely imaginary. The
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How about being patent nonsense? It relies solely on "(X + i)(X - i) = X^2 + b" to work in all forms. It only detects 'purely imaginary' (not complex) numbers in that manner. (X + i)(X + i) instantly defeats it, I believe... with 1 positive sign change and 1 negative sign change.
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article. The statements there are clearly not definitive and the most that can be concluded from the passages is that there is a difference of opinion on the matter. Your statement about Descartes (above) I would place in the category of
1080:, "Descartes' rule of signs" has about 4060 results in Google scholar; "Chasles's theorem" has 224. Also, to me, "s's" implies that both s's should be pronounced separately, which is the incorrect pronounciation in this case. — 1172:). 2) Singular nouns that terminate with a silent "s/z/x" (as in some French names, an example of which is the name Descartes discussed here), almost uniformly take the " 's " in their possessive form (see 1102:
to be very convincing. While you can certainly find both forms in the literature, you will also find many clearly incorrect forms, but the majority, in my experience, have used the apostrophe only form.
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It only detects "purely imaginary pole pairs", now you COULD say If random(5) <= 5, a minimum of 0 "purely imaginary" roots exist, but that is a silly assertion... (But just as valid as this claim)
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Singular nouns that terminate with a silent "s/z/x" (as in some French names, an example of which is the name Descartes discussed here), almost uniformly take the " 's " in their possessive form
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requires the use of "s's"; it specifically mentions that there are two systems and that one should be consistent within an article. Under these circumstances, I find David's appeal to
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I have reversed the recent move to "Descartes's rule of signs". The usual possessive form of Descartes is Descartes' - this is the standard followed on other sites such as
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as above. There is no universal grammatical rule that requires the additional s. The omission has been taught in British schools for the past sixty years at least.
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The proof is clearly lacking. I have neither the time nor the inclination to fix it. I will add words similar to "A rough outline or sketch of the proof follows."
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Actually, it was correct before "fixing". The factorization and roots discussed in the final lines refer to the original polynomial, not the sign-flipped version. --
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you have to insert an arbitrary sign for any zero to make the rules work. Another point: Descartes is talking only about polynomials with all real roots.
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This polynomial has two sign changes, meaning the original polynomial has 2 or 0 negative roots and this second polynomial has 2 or 0 positive roots.
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There seem to be a few neat expositions of various proofs floating around, I added the one from Cut the Knot since they cater for most audiences.
940:) complex roots. If you accept that the real roots version of the rule is correct, then the complex roots version is quite obviously true also. 264:
this polynomial has two roots with the value x=-1, and one with value x=1. So counting roots we have 2 negative roots and one positive root. --
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Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a
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I happen to know that the proof is rather long, so perhaps it would be apt to provide an external link to it, if anyone can find it.
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As I've mentioned in similar discussions elsewhere, the universality of this statement seems to be highly suspect (maybe in
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complex roots version of the rule is actually a very simple extension of the real roots version - if you know there are a
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True. I have updated that section of the article to add the condition that polynomials must not not have a root at 0.
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Aren't the positive roots counted from the original polynomial and the negative roots from the second? --
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Not even sure how to interpret your last sentence. Which specific "statement" do you believe false?
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on Knowledge. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join
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Wouldn't the very much more standard ``Roots are counted taking into account their multiplicities
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I've reverted the recent move and falsification of links. Please abide by the above decision.
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This IS patent nonsense, it works under a select number of cases and does not work consistently.
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because it only applies to polynomials with real coefficients. As for your other example,
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This result is a bit off; it needs to take into account the fact that 0 could be a root.
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of 6-3-3 = 0 complex roots, which is entirely consistent with it having 6 complex roots.
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What does «Multiple roots of the same value are counted separately» mean, exactly?
1357: 1276: 102: 1205:. I do not see how you arrive at these conclusions from what is written in the 1345:
Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page or in a
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And what is more... you don't even list the conditions under which it works!
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in my opinion. Wolfram, Cut The Knot and Purplemath all use the <s': -->
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as a simple google scholar search clearly shows its falsity.--
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The example is all well and good, but it's not a proof.
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Knowledge is an encyclopedic reference, not a textbook
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The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a
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http://mathworld.wolfram.com/DescartesSignRule.html
1349:. No further edits should be made to this section. 1151:per David Eppstein, Bill Cherowitzo and Gandalf61. 834: 715: 603: 256: 157:pay attention to the last example: it's rong... -- 510:uses a general polynomial , which has roots of 444:. To see a proof you can follow the link under 1017:The result of the move request was: Not moved 8: 19: 1057:seems to insist. The move was reverted by 998:The following is a closed discussion of a 964:Here is a source for Descartes Geometrie: 426:The page lacks a proof; please put it in. 47: 814: 801: 788: 775: 762: 738: 695: 682: 669: 656: 643: 622: 577: 538: 233: 215: 357:Moved back to "Descartes' rule of signs" 49: 1243: 604:{\displaystyle (x+i)(x+i)=x^{2}+2ix-1} 966:http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/26400 369:, and in the titles of books such as 7: 95:This article is within the scope of 846:which also has 3 sign changes so f( 531:You can't apply Dsecartes' Rule to 367:Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy 38:It is of interest to the following 960:Original source + unchanging signs 356: 14: 1400:Mid-priority mathematics articles 115:Knowledge:WikiProject Mathematics 1395:Start-Class mathematics articles 924:real roots then there must be a 448:or consult an algebra textbook. 118:Template:WikiProject Mathematics 82: 72: 51: 20: 1049:– The rule is to use "s's" per 991:Requested move 31 December 2017 378:Descartes' Metaphysical Physics 135:This article has been rated as 752: 743: 727:this has 3 sign changes, so f( 633: 627: 567: 555: 552: 540: 257:{\displaystyle (x+1)^{2}(x-1)} 251: 239: 230: 217: 1: 1113:19:48, 31 December 2017 (UTC) 1090:06:43, 31 December 2017 (UTC) 1071:06:04, 31 December 2017 (UTC) 484:17:45, 22 February 2012 (UTC) 329:14:25, 20 February 2008 (UTC) 290:18:33, 15 February 2008 (UTC) 188:16:42, 13 February 2007 (UTC) 109:and see a list of open tasks. 417:22:56, 15 October 2010 (UTC) 391:16:53, 5 February 2008 (UTC) 351:11:17, 11 October 2023 (UTC) 314:20:24, 3 November 2007 (UTC) 274:00:46, 8 February 2008 (UTC) 205:00:31, 8 February 2008 (UTC) 172:12:37, 8 February 2007 (UTC) 167:fixed, thanks for spotting. 162:23:19, 7 February 2007 (UTC) 1325:02:19, 5 January 2018 (UTC) 1299:10:37, 4 January 2018 (UTC) 1256:04:57, 5 January 2018 (UTC) 1238:02:21, 5 January 2018 (UTC) 1224:04:34, 4 January 2018 (UTC) 1194:01:23, 4 January 2018 (UTC) 1161:19:10, 1 January 2018 (UTC) 1140:12:32, 1 January 2018 (UTC) 1034:19:37, 6 January 2018 (UTC) 950:10:28, 4 October 2013 (UTC) 899:20:19, 3 October 2013 (UTC) 868:07:38, 3 October 2013 (UTC) 526:06:08, 3 October 2013 (UTC) 500:07:45, 3 October 2013 (UTC) 1416: 1182:in your edit summary here 1046:Descartes's rule of signs 458:09:34, 22 July 2011 (UTC) 436:20:02, 21 July 2011 (UTC) 134: 67: 46: 1342:Please do not modify it. 1041:Descartes' rule of signs 1005:Please do not modify it. 985:17:56, 11 May 2014 (UTC) 141:project's priority scale 1380:07:53, 1 May 2018 (UTC) 98:WikiProject Mathematics 836: 717: 605: 258: 28:This article is rated 837: 718: 606: 259: 1311:schools, but not in 737: 621: 537: 214: 121:mathematics articles 1130:the proposed move. 1094:I do not see that 832: 713: 601: 516:again, "defeated". 254: 90:Mathematics portal 34:content assessment 1159: 1024: 1021:non-admin closure 975:comment added by 474:comment added by 155: 154: 151: 150: 147: 146: 1407: 1377: 1344: 1296: 1248:Bill Cherowitzo 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the discussion
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Arirossa
23:19, 7 February 2007 (UTC)
DavidMcKenzie
12:37, 8 February 2007 (UTC)
mglg
talk
16:42, 13 February 2007 (UTC)
Mariano
talk
00:31, 8 February 2008 (UTC)
Salix alba
talk
00:46, 8 February 2008 (UTC)
Mariano
talk
18:33, 15 February 2008 (UTC)
Glooper

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