Algebraic number theory

Algebraic number theory is a branch of number theory in which the concept of a number is expanded to the algebraic numbers which are roots of polynomials with rational coefficients. An algebraic number field is any finite (and therefore algebraic) field extension of the rational numbers. These domains contain elements analogous to the integers, the so-called algebraic integers. In this setting, the familiar features of the integers (e.g. unique factorization) need not hold. The virtue of the machinery employed — Galois theory, group cohomology, class field theory, group representations and L-functions — is that it allows one to recover that order partly for this new class of numbers.

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Algebraic number theory • Analytic number theory • Geometric number theory • Computational number theory
Numbers • Natural numbers • Prime numbers • Rational numbers • Irrational number • Algebraic numbers • Transcendental number • Arithmetic • Modular arithmetic • Arithmetic functions
Quadratic forms • L-functions • Diophantine equations • Diophantine approximation • Continued fraction
List of recreational number theory topics • List of number theory topics