| ▲ | reikonomusha 2 days ago | |
Arnold (as reported by Goldmakher [1]) does prove the unsolvability of the quintic in finite terms of arithmetic and single-valued continuous functions (which does not include the complex logarithm). TFA's result is stronger, which is something about the solvability of the monodromy groups of all EML-derived functions. So it doesn't seem to be a "rehash", even if their specific counterexample could have been achieved either in fewer steps or with less machinery. [1] https://web.williams.edu/Mathematics/lg5/394/ArnoldQuintic.p... | ||
| ▲ | saithound 2 days ago | parent [-] | |
Arnold's proof can be used to show that certain classes of functions are insufficient to express a quintic formula. These classes can always safely include all single-valued continuous functions (you cannot even write the _quadratic_ formula in terms of arithmetic and single-valued continuous functions!), but also plenty of non-single-valued functions (e.g. the +-sqrt function which appears in the well-known quadratic formula). Applying Arnold's proof to the class given by arithmetic and all complex nth root functions (also multivalued) gives the usual Abel-Ruffini theorem. But Arnold's proof applies to the class "all elm-expressible functions" without modification. | ||