R, N ( P, P ) : Introduction and Basic Properties
R, N ( P, P ) : Introduction and Basic Properties
The Fundamental Theorem of Algebra appears to have been given its name
by Gauss, although the result was familiar long before; it resisted rigorous
proof by d'Alembert (1740), Euler (1749), and Lagrange (1772). It was more
commonly formulated as a real theorem, namely: every real polynomial factors
completely into real linear or quadratic factors. (This is an essential
result for the integration of rational functions.) Girard has a claim to priority
of formulation. In his "Invention Nouvelle en L'Algebra" of 1629 he
wrote "every equation of degree n has as many solutions as the exponent
of the highest term." Gauss gave the first satisfactory proof in 1799 in his
doctoral dissertation, and he gave three more proofs during his lifetime. His
first proof, while titled "A new proof that every rational integral function of
one variable can be resolved into real factors of the first or second degree,"
was in fact the first more-or-less satisfactory proof. Gauss' first proof is a
geometric argument that the real and imaginary parts of a polynomial, u
and v, have the property that the curves u = 0 and v = 0 intersect, and by
modern standards has some topological problems. His third proof of 1816
amounts to showing that
If all the zeros of p E Pn are real, then all the zeros of p~ are also real.
b] Suppose all the zeros of both p E Pn and q E Pm are real, and all the
zeros of Pn are smaller than any of the zeros of qn' Show that all the zeros
of (p/q)' are real.
Hint: Consider the graph of
(p/q), p' q'
(p/q) p q
D
Define W(p), the Wronskian of p, by
W(p)(z) = p(z)p"(z) - (p'(Z))2
_I p(z) p'(z) I
- p'(z) p"(z)
= p2(z) (p'(Z))'
p(z)
c] Prove that if p E Pn has only distinct real zeros, then W(p) has no real
zeros.
In Craven, Csordas, and Smith [87] it is conjectured that, for p E Pn ,
the number of real zeros of W (p) / p2 does not exceed the number of nonreal
zeros of p (a question they attribute to Gauss).
d] Let p E Pn . Show that any real zero of W(p) lies in or on a Jensen
circle of p.
Proof. See Dilcher [91]. D
e] Show that Lucas' theorem does not hold for rational functions.
Hint: Consider r(x) = x/(a2
- x2
). D
The next exercise is a weak form of Descartes' rule of signs.
E.6 Positive Zeros of Muntz Polynomials. Suppose 60 < 61 < ... < 6n
and
Show that either f = 0 or f has at most n zeros in (0, 00).
qn(z) := II (z - Zi)
i=1
is called an nth (monic) Fekete polynomial for E. The transfinite diameter
or logarithmic capacity of E is defined by
1
Then
Outline. We have
n
II
1:C;i,j:C;n+1
i#,j#k,i#j
:=;.<1n(E) II IZk
Hint: Without loss of generality we may assume that the arc An is symmetric
with respect to the x-axis and 1 E An. Now use part h] and the
transformation x = ~ (z + Z-1 ). D
2.2 Orthogonal Functions
The most basic properties of orthogonal functions are explored in this section.
The following section specializes the discussion to polynomials.
In this section the functions are complex-valued and the vector spaces
are over the complex numbers. All the results have obvious real analogs
and in many later applications we will restrict to these corresponding real
cases.
An inner product on a vector space V is a function (".) from V x V
to C that satisfies, for all i, g, h E V and a, (3 E C,
(2.2.1) (j,1) > 0 unless i = 0 (positivity)
(2.2.2) (j, g) = (g,1) (conjugate symmetry)
(2.2.3) (ai + (3g, h) = a(j, h) + (3(g, h) (linearity).
A vector space V equipped with an inner product is called an inner
product space. It is a normed linear space with the norm 11.11 := (', Y/2.
The canonical example for us will be the space C[a, b] of all complexvalued
continuous functions on [a, b] with the inner product
(2.2.4) (j, g) :=
i(x)g(x)w(x) dx,
l
b