Re:Not all elementary functions can be expressed with exp-mi...
by saithound on Wednesday April 15, 2026 @02:52AM
(#47775562)
Arnold's proof can be used to show that certain classes of functions are insufficient to express a quintic formula.
These classes can always safely include all single-valued continuous functions (you cannot even write the _quadratic_ formula in terms of arithmetic and single-valued continuous functions!), but also plenty of non-single-valued functions (e.g. the +-sqrt function which appears in the well-known quadratic formula).
Applying Arnold's proof to the class given by arithmetic and all complex nth root functions (also multivalued) gives the usual Abel-Ruffini theorem. But Arnold's proof applies to the class "all elm-expressible functions" without modification.
[1] https://web.williams.edu/Mathematics/lg5/394/ArnoldQuintic.p...