Polynomials in Base $x$ and the Prime-Irreducible Affinity

Abstract

Arthur Cohn's irreducibility criterion for polynomials with integer coefficients and its generalization connect primes to irreducibles, and integral bases to the variable $x$. As we follow this link, we find that these polynomials are ready to spill two of their secrets: (i) There exists a unique "base-$x$" representation of such polynomials that makes the ring $\mathbb{Z}[x]$ into an ordered domain; and (ii) There is a 1-1 correspondence between positive rational primes $p$ and certain infinite sets of irreducible polynomials $f(x)$ that attain the value $p$ at sufficiently large $x$, each generated in finitely many steps from the $p$th cyclotomic polynomial. The base-$x$ representation provides practical conversion methods among numeric bases (not to mention a polynomial factorization algorithm), while the prime-irreducible correspondence puts a new angle on the Bouniakowsky Conjecture, a generalization of Dirichlet's Theorem on Primes in Arithmetic Progressions.