Solving sextics by division method


Raghavendra G. Kulkarni


A polynomial is said to be reducible over a given field if it can be factored into polynomials of lower degree with coefficients in that field; otherwise it is termed as an irreducible polynomial~[1]. This paper describes a simple division method to decompose a reducible sextic over the real field into a product of two polynomial factors, one quadratic and one quartic. The conditions on the coefficients of such reducible sextic are derived.