Reducibility of $x^{2n} + x^{2n-2} + \cdots + x^{2} + 1$ Just for fun I am experimenting with irreducibility of certain polynomials over the integers. Since $x^4+x^2+1=(x^2-x+1)(x^2+x+1)$, I thought perhaps $x^6+x^4+x^2+1$ is also reducible. Indeed:
$$x^6+x^4+x^2+1=(x^2+1)(x^4+1)$$
Let $f_n(x)=x^{2n}+x^{2n-2}+\cdots + x^2+1$. Using Macaulay2 (powerful software package) I checked that:
$$f_4(x) = (x^4-x^3+x^2-x+1)(x^4+x^3+x^2+x+1)$$
 We get that
$$ f_5(x)=(x^2+1)(x^2-x+1)(x^2+x+1)(x^4-x^2+1)$$
The polynomial is reducible for $n=6, 7, 8, 9$ as far as I checked. I suspect that $f_n(x)$ is reducible over integers for all $n\ge 2$. Is this true?
Thanks!

Note that  $f_n(x)(x^2-1) = x^{2n+2} - 1 = (x^{n+1}-1)(x^{n+1}+1)$. Now use unique factorization...  
