On Mar 26, 2007, at 12:24 , Timothy Clemans wrote:
> > I just want to tell the user of my factoring apps when the quadratic > that they submit is prime. I've tried is_prime, and > len(factor(x^2+B*x+C)) (thinking an answer of one would mean its > prime, but it does not mean that). What is the best way in SAGE right > now to test a polynomial over ZZ to tell if it is irreducible over ZZ? I think is_prime() is just for integers. You should be able to infer that a polynomial is irreducible if factor () returns a value with length 1. Why don't you think that will work? There may be a few kinks in the strategy, depending on the kind of polynomial the user hands you, though. You can always verify that a quadratic polynomial over ZZ is irreducible over ZZ by doing it the hard way: compute the roots; if they are both integers, the polynomial is reducible over ZZ; else not :-}. Justin -- Justin C. Walker, Curmudgeon at Large Institute for the Absorption of Federal Funds ----------- My wife 'n kids 'n dogs are gone, I can't get Jesus on the phone, But Ol' Milwaukee's Best is my best friend. ----------- --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/sage-support URLs: http://sage.math.washington.edu/sage/ and http://sage.scipy.org/sage/ -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
