Mathematics Atlas

How Proof Is Made
Theorems

Abel's Lemniscate Division Theorem

lem-NIS-kuht (lemniscate)
Analysis

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Deliberately paired with Gauss's heptadecagon result as the atlas's own second constructibility mark: in 1827, Niels Henrik Abel extended Gauss's constructibility criterion for regular polygons to a completely different curve, the lemniscate of Bernoulli (a figure-eight shape), showing that it too can be divided into n equal-arc-length pieces by compass and straightedge exactly when n satisfies an arithmetic condition directly analogous to Gauss's Fermat-prime criterion. The result is a striking early instance of a pattern, an arithmetic condition governing a geometric constructibility question, recurring in a genuinely different setting, and it grew out of Abel's wider work founding the theory of elliptic functions, of which the lemniscate's arc length is an early example.

Facts
Statement
The lemniscate of Bernoulli can be divided into n equal-arc-length pieces using only compass and straightedge exactly when n satisfies an arithmetic condition on its prime factorization directly analogous to Gauss's Fermat-prime criterion for constructible regular polygons. 1
Proof Year
1827 1
Cross-Tradition Connections

Associated With

Both results are governed by the identical Fermat-prime law: Gauss's 1796 criterion for which regular n-gons are compass-and-straightedge constructible (n a product of a power of two and distinct Fermat primes) and Abel's 1827 extension of the same criterion to which n-division points of the lemniscate are constructible are the same arithmetic condition applied to two different geometric objects, not two independent coincidences.

In Branch

Proved By

Sources
1. MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive
University of St Andrews, School of Mathematics and Statistics
Cox and Hyde, The Galois Theory of the Lemniscate (2012)
David A. Cox and Trevor Hyde, arXiv (Journal of Number Theory), 2012abstract
Quote, abstract
We also discuss Abel's theorem on the lemniscate and explain how lemnatomic polynomials relate to Chebyshev polynomials.
View the Source
Lemniscate (Wiktionary)
Wikimedia FoundationPronunciation section, USView the Source
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