ASSIGNMENT 1 - due Sunday, October 31, in lecture time

Problem 1

Prove that the real field R contains infinitely many different sub-fields.

Problem 2

Let r and s 6= 0 be given real numbers. We define two operations on the set
R × R as follows:

(a, b) + (c, d) = (a + c, b + d), (a, b) · (c, d) = (ac − bd(r2 + s2 ), ad + bc + 2rbd).

Is R × R with these two operations a field?

Problem 3

Prove that {a + b · 21/3 + c · 22/3 | a, b, c ∈ Q} with the usual addition and

multiplication of real numbers, a field.

Problem 4

Let F = {a + bi | a, b ∈ Q, i2 = −1}. Is F a sub-field of the complex field

C? You have to prove your answer.

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 Problem 5

√ √ √
Prove that {a + b 2 + c 3 + d 6 | a, b, c, d ∈ Q} with the usual addition
and multiplication of real numbers, a field.

Problem 6

Let F be a field and let K = F × F have the following two operations:

(a, b) + (c, d) = (a + c, b + d), (a, b) · (c, d) = (ac, bd).

Is K a field?

Problem 7

√
Find two elements c, d 6= ±1 in the field Q( 5) that satisfy the equation
cd = 19.

Problem 8

Let f (X) and g(X) be two polynomials in C[X]. Prove that

deg(f g) = deg(f ) + deg(g), deg(f + g) ≤ max{deg(f ), deg(g)}.

Give an example for f and g in which we do not have equality.

Problem 9

Find two polynomials u(X) and v(X) over the field Z2 that satisfy:

X 5 + X 2 = (X 3 + X + 1)u(X) + v(X).

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 Problem 10

Let a ∈ C be a complex number that satisfies |a| < 1. Find the set of all
the complex numbers z that satisfy |z − a| ≤ |1 − az|.

Problem 11

Let f be a function defined on a non-empty subset of Cn into C by an ex-

pression that involves only +, ×, − and /. Prove that if both (z1 , . . . , zn )
and (z 1 , . . . , z n ) belong to the domain of definition of f then f (z 1 , . . . , z n ) =
f (z1 , . . . , zn ).

Problem 12

Let a ∈ R. Compute (i + (i + (i + a)−1 )−1 )−1 in C.

Problem 13

Compute the following complex number

5  5
√ √

1 1
(−1 + i 3) + (−1 − i 3) .
2 2

Problem 14

(a) Write the following polynomial as a product of 4 linear polynomials (over

the complex numbers),

16 · Z 4 + 32 · Z 3 + 24 · Z 2 + 8 · Z + 17.

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(b) Find a complex number z that satisfies |z| + z = 2 − i.

(c) Consider the equation 3Z 7 + 4Z 6 − Z 5 + 2Z 4 + Z − 39 = 0. The equation

has 7 zeros. Find the product of these zeros and their sum.

(d) Let z1 , z2 and z3 be different complex numbers that satisfy |z1 | = |z2 | =
|z3 | = 1 and z1 + z2 + z3 = 0. Prove that these numbers represent in the
plan the vertices of a triangle whose edges are equal to one another.

(e) Let z1 , z2 and z3 be complex numbers that satisfy |z1 | = |z2 | = |z3 | = 1.
Prove that,
|z1 z2 + z1 z3 + z2 z3 | = |z1 + z2 + z3 |.
(f) Compute the following sum

(2 − 3i)−15 + (2 − 3i)−11 + (2 − 3i)−12 + . . . + (2 − 3i)−95 .

Problem 15

Find real numbers a, b, c, d and e so that the graph of the function P (X) =
aX 4 + bX 3 + cX 2 + dX + e passes through the points (1, 2), (−1, 6), (−2, 38)
and (2, 6) and so that P 0 (3) = 0.

Problem 16

√
Prove that for any complex number z = a + bi we have 2|z| ≥ |a| + |b|.

Problem 17

i) Find all the complex numbers z that satisfy |z| + z =√2 + i.

ii) Find all the complex numbers that satisfy z 4 = 2 − 12i.
iii) Compute (1 + 2i)8 .

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 Problem 18

√
i) Find all the complex numbers that satisfy (a + bi)2 = (1/2)(1 + i 3).
ii) Prove that for any z1 , z2 ∈ C we have
|z1 |2 + |z2 |2 − z1 z 2 − z 1 z2 = |z1 − z2 |2 .

Problem 19

a) Solve the following system over the complex numbers


(3 − i)X1 + (4 + 2i)X2 = 2 + 6i
(4 + 2i)X1 − (2 + 3i)X2 = 5 + 4i
b) Solve the linear system

X + 2Y + 3Z = 10
X + 3Y + Z = 1

Problem 20

Consider the following equation

(2 + i)Z 9 + 5Z 8 − (1 − 2i)Z 7 + 7Z 2 − 2Z + 17 = 0.
This equation has 9 zeros, Z1 , Z2 , . . . , Z9 .
P
a) Find the sum of different pairs of these zeros, 1≤j<k≤9 Zj Zk .
P
b) Find the sum of different triples of these zeros, 1≤j<k<l≤9 Zj Zk Zl .

Problem 21

Use vector addition and multiplication by scalar in order to prove the fol-
lowing fact in geometry:
Let ABC be a triangle. Let P be the midpoint of AC and Q be the midpoint
of BC. Then the segment P Q is parallel to the edge AB and its length is
half of the length of AB.

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 Problem 22

An n × n, (n > 7) matrix A = (aij ) is called 7-diagonal if and only if

aij = 0 unless |i − j| ≤ 3. If A is an n × n 7-diagonal matrix and if W is
an n × 1 vector, compute the number of operations (addition/subtraction
or multiplication) needed to solve the linear system AX = W using the
Gauss-Jordan algorithm.