Abel-Ruffini's Theorem: Complex but Not Complicated!

Abstract

In this article, using only elementary knowledge of complex numbers, we sketch a proof of the celebrated Abel--Ruffini theorem, which states that the general solution to an algebraic equation of degree five or more cannot be written using radicals, that is, using its coefficients and arithmetic operations $+,-,\times,\div,$ and $\sqrt{\ }$. The present article is written purposely with concise and pedagogical terms and dedicated to students and researchers not familiar with Galois theory, or even group theory in general, which are the usual tools used to prove this remarkable theorem. In particular, the proof is self-contained and gives some insight as to why formulae exist for equations of degree four or less (and how they are constructed), and why they do not for degree five or more.