In Galois theory, the inverse Galois problem concerns whether or not every finite group appears as the Galois group of some Galois extension of the rational numbers . This problem, first posed in the early 19th century, is unsolved. There are some permutation groups for which generic polynomials are known, which define all algebraic extensions of having a particular group as Galois group. These groups include all of degree no greater than . There also are groups known not to have generic polynomials, such as the cyclic group of order . More generally, let be a given finite group, and let be a field. Then the question is this: is there a Galois extension field such that the Galois group of the extension is isomorphic to ? One says that is realizable over if such a field exists. Partial results There is a great deal of detailed information in particular cases. It is known that every finite group is realizable over any function field in one variable over the complex numbers , and more generally over function fields in one variable over any algebraically closed field of characteristic zero. Igor Shafarevich showed that every finite solvable group is realizable over . It is also known that every sporadic group, except possibly the Mathieu group , is realizable over . David Hilbert had shown that this question is related to a rationality question for : If is any extension of , on which acts as an automorphism group and the invariant field is rational over then is realizable over Here rational means that it is a purely transcendental extension of , generated by an algebraically independent set. This criterion can for example be used to show that all the symmetric groups are realizable. Much detailed work has been carried out on the question, which is in no sense solved in general. Some of this is based on constructing geometrically as a Galois covering of the projective line: in algebraic terms, starting with an extension of the field of rational functions in an indeterminate . After that, one applies Hilbert's irreducibility theorem to specialise , in such a way as to preserve the Galois group. All permutation groups of degree 16 or less are known to be realizable over the group PSL(2,16):2 of degree 17 may not be. All 13 non-abelian simple groups smaller than PSL(2,25) (order 7800) are known to be