> Elementary functions typically include arbitrary polynomial roots
Admittedly this may be above my math level, but this just seems like a bad definition of elementary functions, given the context.
Admittedly this may be above my math level, but this just seems like a bad definition of elementary functions, given the context.
And for multivariate polynomials, the roots are uncomputable due to MRDP theorem.
Nonetheless, "elementary function" is a technical term dating back to the 19th century; it's very much not a general adjective whose synonym is "basic".
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilbert%27s_thirteenth_problem
Nevertheless, it is a horrible definition. Mathematicians have often taken care to define things as close to everyday intuition as they could (and then proving an equivalence). The "elementary function" in this definition is just a weird mix of concerns.