1. A mechanical method for graphical solution of polynomials
- Author
-
Lisle L. Wheeler and S. Leroy Brown
- Subjects
Discrete mathematics ,Polynomial ,Computer Networks and Communications ,Applied Mathematics ,Mathematical analysis ,De Moivre's formula ,Tracing ,symbols.namesake ,Control and Systems Engineering ,ComputingMethodologies_SYMBOLICANDALGEBRAICMANIPULATION ,Signal Processing ,symbols ,Trigonometric number ,Trigonometric functions ,Sine ,Complex plane ,Complex number ,Mathematics - Abstract
A mechanical synthesizer with thirty harmonic elements (fifteen sine components and fifteen cosine components) may be used to graph a polynomial in a complex plane. The sum of the sine components is recorded by a tracing point which moves vertically. The sum of the cosine components is recorded by horizontal motion of a drawing board. Expansion of the polynomial by De Moivre's theorem expresses the function as a sum of sine terms and a sum of cosine terms. The polynomial may then be graphed by the machine, and thereby the complex roots determined. A number of typical curves are given to illustrate the machine method of determining real, imaginary, and complex roots. An auxiliary method is described which gives all the real roots of the polynomial from a single graph.
- Published
- 1941
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