How often is a quintic polynomial solvable by radicals? We establish that the number of such polynomials, monic and irreducible with integer coefficients in [-H, H], is O(H3.91). More generally, we show that if n ≥ 3 and n ≠ 7, 8, 10 then there are O(Hn-1.017) monic, irreducible polynomials of degree n with integer coefficients in [-H, H] and Galois group not containing An. Save for the alternating group and degrees 7, 8, 10, this establishes a 1936 conjecture of van der Waerden, that irreducible non-Sn polynomials are substantially rarer than reducible polynomials.
This video is part of the Webinar in Additive Combinatorics series, and this is their YouTube channel.
