Laura Anderson ; Jasbir S Chahal ; Jaap Top
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The last chapter of the Disquisitiones of Gauss
hrj:8925 -
Hardy-Ramanujan Journal,
January 9, 2022,
Volume 44 - Special Commemorative volume in honour of Srinivasa Ramanujan - 2021
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https://doi.org/10.46298/hrj.2022.8925
The last chapter of the Disquisitiones of Gauss
Authors: Laura Anderson ; Jasbir S Chahal 1; Jaap Top 2
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Laura Anderson;Jasbir S Chahal;Jaap Top
1 Brigham Young University
2 Johann Bernoulli Institute
This exposition reviews what exactly Gauss asserted and what did he prove in the last chapter of {\sl Disquisitiones Arithmeticae} about dividing the circle into a given number of equal parts. In other words, what did Gauss claim and actually prove concerning the roots of unity and the construction of a regular polygon with a given number of sides. Some history of Gauss's solution is briefly recalled, and in particular many relevant classical references are provided which we believe deserve to be better known.