But are there really $3$ cube roots of $1$

calculuscomplex numberstrigonometry

So I remember scrolling through Youtube a while back when I saw this video by Blackpenredpen that was about all solutions to $$x^3=1$$Now, I will admit, I didn't think that much about it when I saw it at first, but it seems to have been bugging me because I have been thinking, "Is that even possible?" Here are my attempts at finding all solutions to$$x^3=1$$


Attempt $1$


Time: circa. $3-4$ weeks ago


We write this as$$x^3=1+0i\implies x=\sqrt[3]{1+0i}$$Now, I was thinking of using the $(a+bi)^{c+di}$ formula for this, but now that I think about it, I have no idea why I would have been doing that.


Attempt $2$


Time: circa. $4-5$ hours ago


We write $1$ as $$e^{2i\pi}=\cos(2\pi k)+i\sin(2\pi k)$$$$\implies1^{1/3}=\cos\left(\dfrac{2\pi}3\right)+i\sin\left(\dfrac{2\pi}3\right),\cos\left(\dfrac{4\pi}3\right)+i\sin\left(\dfrac{4\pi}3\right),1$$And so we have$$\cos\left(\dfrac{2\pi}3\right)\pm i\sin\left(\dfrac{2\pi}3\right)=-\dfrac12\pm\dfrac{i\sqrt2}2$$$$\therefore\sqrt[3]1=1,-\dfrac12\pm\dfrac{i\sqrt2}2$$


My question


Did I find the $3$ cube roots of $1$ correctly, or what are the $3$ cube roots of $1$?

Best Answer

  1. Yes, there are really three cube roots of $1$. This follows abstractly from the fundamental theorem of algebra. Concretely, de Moivre's formula tells you how to find all the $n^{th}$ roots of $1$ for any positive integer $n$; they are given by $\cos \frac{2 \pi k }{n} + i \sin \frac{2 \pi k}{n}, 0 \le k \le n-1$.

  2. Ethan in the comments is correct that you need a $\sqrt{3}$ in your expression. Hagen in the comments is also correct that an alternative approach is to divide $x^3 - 1$ by $x - 1$ and solve the resulting quadratic using the quadratic formula.

Once you really internalize the relationship between complex numbers and rotation the $n^{th}$ roots of $1$ are just given by rotations of a regular $n$-gon. There is a quite clear geometric picture that is maybe not emphasized as much as it should be.