CONSTRUCTIBLE

NUMBERS

Presented by:
REYMAR B. CAMBE
Introduction

 You may remember from geometry

that you can perform many
constructions only using a
straightedge and a compass
 These include drawing circles,
constructing right angles, bisecting
angles, etc.
 But there are other problems that the
ancient Greeks wanted to try to solve
with this method
“The DELIAN Problems”

• Roughly 2500 years ago, the Ancient

Greeks, the people of Delos, wanted to
know if any of the following were possible
– Squaring the circle: Given a circle, create a
square with the same area
– Doubling the cube: Given a cube, construct
another cube with exactly twice the volume
– Trisecting the angle: Given an angle, divide
it into three congruent angles
“Impossible?!”

 It turns out that all of these constructions

are impossible.
 In order to understand why, we need to
think about how constructions really
work.
 We start with two points, (0, 0) and (1, 0).
 We say that we can “construct” a point (x,
y) if we can find that point as an
intersection of lines or circles that we can
construct.
The Rules

• The things we can construct are

– Lines: We can use our straightedge to
construct a line between any two points
– Circles: Given two points, we can construct a
circle with the center at one point and which
passes through the other
– Perpendiculars: Given a line and a point, we
can construct a perpendicular line that passes
through the point
Rules of points, lines and circles:

a) Construct a line if it passes through two

previously constructed points.
b) Construct a circle if its center is a
previously constructed point and its
radius the distance between two
previously constructed points.
c) Construct a point if it is the point of
intersection of two lines or circles or a
circle and a line constructed in
accordance with a) and b).
“Constructible” Numbers

• We say that a number is “constructible” if it

is the x or y-coordinate of a constructible
point

• For example, all of the integers are

constructible
Square Roots

• The number is also constructible, since

the point is the intersection of the
first two circles on the previous slide

• In fact, the set of constructible numbers is

closed under addition, subtraction,
multiplication, division, and square roots
The Field of Constructible Numbers

• The set of constructible numbers forms a

field that contains the rational numbers

• This field contains only those numbers that

can be obtained from (possibly repeatedly)
extending Q with the roots of quadratic
polynomials
A More Complex Example

• For example, Gauss showed that

• Since this number is constructed out of

rational numbers and square roots, this
number must be constructible

• We can use this fact to construct a regular

17-sided polygon
The Original Problems

 Let’s think about trisection of an angle,

specifically a 60-degree angle

 60-degree angles are constructible: cos(60)

and sin(60) are both constructible numbers

 What about 20-degree angles?

 Using trig identities, it’s possible to show that

cos(20) is a root of the polynomial x3 – 3x – 1
cos(20) is “Not Constructible”

• Since the polynomial for which cos(20) is a

root has degree 3, that means that cos(20)
will involve cube roots, which aren’t
allowed

• So cos(20) is not a constructible number,

and 60-degree angles are just one
example of angles we cannot trisect with
straightedge and compass
Doubling the Cube

• Given a 1 x 1 x 1 cube, we would need to

construct a x x cube to have
exactly double the volume

• But is not a number we can construct,

so we wouldn’t be able to create a
segment exactly units long to create
our cube
Squaring the Circle
 Given a circle of radius 1 (and area π), we
would need to construct a square whose
sides have length the square root of π

 Even though square roots are allowed, π

is not a rational number

 It turns out π is a transcendental number,

which means it’s not the root of any
polynomial with rational coefficients
CONSTRUCTIBLE
NUMBER
- a number is
constructibe, if it
is a coordinate of
a constructible
point.
Squaring the circle
Trisecting the angle
• Let’s switch from geometry to algebra.
• To add numbers to C, we really just
intersect constructible lines and circles.
• Recall
– Equation of a line: y = ax + b
– Equation of a circle: x 2 + y2 + cx + dy + e = 0
Case 1: Intersecting two lines
Let y = ax + b and y = cx + d be constructible lines (a, b, c and
d are constructible).
Solving for their intersection we substitute for y to get:

ax + b = cx + d
ax – cx = d-b
x(a - c) = d – b

d-b æ d - bö
so x= and y = aç ÷ +b .
a-c è a - cø

But if a, b, c and d are constructible, x and y already were.

Thus we can’t add anything to our set by intersecting lines.
Case 2: Intersecting two circles
Let x 2 + y2 + ax + by + c = 0 and x 2 + y2 + dx + ey + f = 0
be constructible circles (a, b, c, d, e and f are
constructible).

By subtracting one equation from the other, we get:

(ax + by + c) – (dx + ey + f) = 0
(a – d)x + (b – e)y + c – f =0
(b – e)y = (d – a)x + (f - c)
d-a f -c
y= x+
b-e b-e
Which is just a line with constructible slope and
intercept. Thus, intersecting two circles can’t give us
anything that intersecting a line and a circle doesn’t.
Case 3: Intersecting a line and a circle
Let y = ax + b and x 2 + y2 + cx + dy + e = 0 be constructible
(a, b, c, d and e are constructible)

If we substitute for y in the second equation, we get:

x 2 + ( ax + b ) + cx + d ( ax + b ) + e = 0
2

Which, if you expand and collect terms becomes

(1 + a2 ) x2 + ( 2ab + c + ad ) x + (b2 + bd + e) = 0
Which is really just fx 2 + gx + h = 0 , for constructible numbers f, g and
h.
So we can solve for:
-g ± g 2 - 4 fh -g ± g 2 - 4 fh
x= and y=a +b
2f 2f
Which are already constructible. So our set can go no larger!
Back to the Delian problems
• Task A: Squaring a circle:
We can certainly construct a circle of radius 1 and
thus area p. A square with area p would have sides of
length p . Because p is transcendental (not
algebraic) so is p . Thus p is not constructible, and
squaring an arbitrary circle is impossible.

• Task B: Doubling a cube:

We can certainly construct a cube with sides of length 1
. If we doubled the cube, it would have volume 2 and
sides of length 3 2 . The minimal polynomial of 3 2 has
degree 3, so 3 2 is not constructible and doubling an
arbitrary cube is impossible.
Back to the Delian problems
Task C: Trisecting an arbitrary angle.
I claim we can construct a 60 degree angle (how?). If we could
trisect constructible angles, we’d be able to construct a 20 degree
angle. Thus cos20 would be constructible. Using the triple angle
formula, cos ( 3q ) = 4 cos3 q - 3cosq
we have:
cos 60 = 4 cos 3 20 - 3cos 20
1
2 = 4 cos 3 20 - 3cos 20
1 = 8 cos 3 20 - 6 cos 20 let a = 2 cos 20
( 2 cos 20 )3 - 3( 2 cos 20 ) - 1 = 0 a 3 - 3a - 1 = 0
Which has no rational roots because 1 and -1 don’t work (rational
root theorem), so the minimal polynomial is 3rd degree, so we cant
construct a and thus can’t construct cos20 . This means we can’t
construct a 20 degree angle so trisecting an arbitrary angle is
impossible.
Conclusion

• Interestingly, the impossibility of

these constructions wasn’t proven
until the 19th century – Gauss
credited with much of it.
• The set of constructible numbers
has interesting applications in
Abstract Algebra, specifically
Field Theory.
Thank you!