quartics

Quartics

Quartic equations are in the form of \[ax^{4}+bx^{3}+cx^{2}+dx+e=0\] or

\begin{align*} \tag {1} x^{4}+\frac{b}{a}x^{3}+\frac{c}{a}x^{2}+\frac{d}{a}x+\frac{e}{a}=0 \end{align*}

Let the roots of the equation above be \[\alpha\], \[\beta\], \[\gamma\] and \[\delta\].

\begin{align*} (x-\alpha)(x-\beta)(x-\gamma)(x-\delta)&=0 \\ \tag {2} x^{4}-(\alpha+\beta+\gamma+\delta)x^{3}&+(\alpha\beta+\alpha\gamma+\alpha\delta+\beta\gamma+\beta\delta+\gamma\delta)x^{2}\\ &-(\alpha\beta\gamma+\alpha\beta\delta+\alpha\gamma\delta+\beta\gamma\delta)x+\alpha\beta\gamma\delta=0 \end{align*}

By comparing (1) and (2) we get that:

\begin{align*} \alpha+\beta+\gamma+\delta&=-\frac{b}{a}=\Sigma\alpha=S_{1} \\ \alpha\beta+\alpha\gamma+\alpha\delta+\beta\gamma+\beta\delta+\gamma\delta&=\frac{c}{a}=\Sigma\alpha\beta \\ \alpha\beta\gamma+\alpha\beta\delta+\alpha\gamma\delta+\beta\gamma\delta&=-\frac{d}{a}=\Sigma\alpha\beta\gamma \\ \alpha\beta\gamma\delta&=\frac{e}{a}=\Sigma\alpha\beta\gamma\delta \\ \end{align*}

As for \[S_{2}\], the formula is identical to cubics and quadratics, where \[S_{2}=(\Sigma\alpha)^2-2(\Sigma\alpha\beta)\]
NOTE: Due to the length of the expansion of these equation, it's much more sensible to find \[S_{3}\] by taking \[aS_{3}=-(bS_{2}+cS_{1}+dS_{0}+eS_{-1})\].

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