Questions tagged [roots-of-unity]
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How small can a sum of a few roots of unity be?
Let $n$ be a large natural number, and let $z_1, \ldots, z_{10}$ be (say) ten $n^{th}$ roots of unity: $z_1^n = \ldots = z_{10}^n = 1$. Suppose that the sum $S = z_1+\ldots+z_{10}$ is non-zero. How ...
3
votes
1
answer
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A similar relationship between the generic cubic and the Lehmer quintic?
I. Comparison
It doesn't seem to be well-known that the generic cubic (prominent in this MO post) for $C_3 = A_3$,
$$x^3-nx^2+(n-3)x+1 = 0$$
has the nice property that its roots $a,b,c$, if in correct ...
26
votes
0
answers
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Which sets of roots of unity give a polynomial with nonnegative coefficients?
The question in brief: When does a subset $S$ of the complex $n$th roots of unity have the property that
$$\prod_{\alpha\, \in \,S} (z-\alpha)$$
gives a polynomial in $\mathbb R[z]$ with ...
4
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0
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How small can the nonzero sum of $O(\log n)$ distinct $n-$th roots of unity be?
The OEIS sequence oeis.org/A108380 gives the least number of distinct n-th roots of unity summing to the smallest possible nonzero magnitude.
This sequence seems to imply that the least number of ...
4
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1
answer
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Are all sums of subsets of roots of unity unique?
For a prime $p$, let $S$ be the set of all $p$-roots of unity in the complex plane. Now, consider the sum, $W(R)$ of the members of a set $R$ which is a proper subset of $S$. I suspect that $R \ne R'$ ...
3
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1
answer
317
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Roots of anti-palindromic polynomial if coefficients are odd.
This is in continuation of the question asked in this earlier post here. Given an anti palindromic polynomial of degree $n$ with odd coefficients, does it have roots on the unit circle?
2
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Integer eigenvalues of a class of matrices inspired by Prof. Zhi-Wei Sun's conjecture
Theorem: Let $n>1$ be an odd number and $\zeta$ a primitive $n$-th root of unity. Then
\begin{eqnarray}
&&\sum_{\tau\in D(n-1)}\mathrm{sign}(\tau)\prod_{j=1}^{n-1}\frac{1}{1-\zeta^{j-\tau(j)...