Straightedge and compass construction

A compass-and-straightedge construction uses an unmarked straightedge to draw a Euclidean line through two already constructed points, and a compass to draw a circle with a constructed centre and radius. New points arise from intersections of these lines and circles. The allowed operations matter: an accurate numerical drawing need not supply such a construction.

Consider the constructible angle whose cosine is $5/6$ and sine is $\sqrt{11}/6$. If one fifth of this angle were constructible, its cosine $c$ would satisfy the displayed polynomial, by the identity $\cos 5\theta =16{\cos }^5\theta -20{\cos }^3\theta +5\cos \theta$. The identity follows by taking the real part of $(\cos \theta +i\sin \theta {)}^5$ and substituting ${\sin }^2\theta =1-{\cos }^2\theta$.

The polynomial is irreducible by Eisenstein's criterion at five, so $c$ has degree five over the rational numbers. The initial angle field $\mathbb{Q}(\sqrt{11})$ already has degree two, and adjoining any finite collection of constructible numbers gives total degree over the rational numbers a power of two. Such a field cannot contain the degree-five element $c$, by the tower law for field extensions. Hence this constructible angle cannot be divided into five equal angles by straightedge and compass construction. Some particular angles can be quintisected; the obstruction disproves a construction valid for all angles.

Doubling the volume of a unit cube requires constructing its new side length $\sqrt[3]{2}$. Its minimal polynomial $X^3-2$ is irreducible by Eisenstein's criterion at two, so this length has degree three. Every constructible number belongs to a finite tower of quadratic extensions, whose total degree is a power of two. The tower law for field extensions would force the degree three to divide that power of two, a contradiction. Thus no such straightedge and compass construction exists.

A constructible polygon is a polygon whose vertices can be obtained by a compass-and-straightedge construction from the specified initial data. The classical question for a regular polygon asks which numbers of sides permit an exact construction from a given side or circumscribed circle.

A constructible regular polygon is a regular polygon admitting a compass-and-straightedge construction. The Gauss-Wantzel theorem classifies its possible numbers of sides.

For $N\ge 3$, a regular polygon with $N$ sides is a constructible regular polygon exactly when $N=2^a{p}_1\cdots p_r$, where $a$ is a nonnegative integer and the $p_j$ are distinct Fermat primes; the product may be empty. Thus seventeen and fifteen qualify, while nine does not. Carl Friedrich Gauss established sufficiency, and Pierre Wantzel proved necessity in 1837.^[ref]