Skip to main content
Log in

The classification and the computation of the zeros of quaternionic, two-sided polynomials

  • Published:
Numerische Mathematik Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Already for a long time it is known that quaternionic polynomials whose coefficients are located only at one side of the powers, may have two classes of zeros: isolated zeros and spherical zeros. Only recently a classification of the two types of zeros and a means to compute all zeros of such polynomials have been developed. In this investigation we consider quaternionic polynomials whose coefficients are located at both sides of the powers, and we show that there are three more classes of zeros defined by the rank of a certain real (4 × 4) matrix. This information can be used to find all zeros in the same class if only one zero in that class is known. The essential tool is the description of the polynomial p by a matrix equation P(z) := A(z)z + B(z), where A(z) is a real (4 × 4) matrix determined by the coefficients of the given polynomial p and P, z, B are real column vectors with four rows. This representation allows also to include two-sided polynomials which contain several terms of the same degree. We applied Newton’s method to P(z) = 0. This method turned out to be a very effective tool in finding the zeros. This method allowed also to prove, that the essential number of zeros of a quaternionic, two-sided polynomial p of degree n is, in general, not bounded by n. We conjecture that the bound is 2n. There are various examples.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Aramanovitch L.I.: Quaternion non-linear filter for estimation of rotating body attitude. Math. Methods Appl. Sci. 18, 1239–1255 (1995)

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  2. Eilenberg S., Niven I.: The “Fundamental Theorem of Algebra” for quaternions. Bull. Am. Math. Soc. 50, 246–248 (1944)

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  3. Gentili G., Struppa D.C.: On the multiplicity of zeros of polynomials with quaternionic coefficients. Milan J. Math. 76, 1–10 (2007)

    MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  4. Gentili G., Struppa D.C., Vlacci F.: The fundamental theorem of algebra for Hamilton and Cayley numbers. Math. Z. 259, 895–902 (2008)

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  5. Gordon B., Motzkin T.S.: On the zeros of polynomials over division rings. Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 116, 218–226 (1965)

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  6. Gürlebeck K., Sprössig W.: Quaternionic and Clifford Calculus for Physicists and Engineers, pp. 371. Wiley, Chichester (1997)

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  7. Horn R.A., Johnson C.R.: Matrix Analysis, pp. 561. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (1992)

    Google Scholar 

  8. Janovská, D., Opfer, G.: A note on the computation of all zeros of simple quaternionic polynomials. SIAM J. Numer. Anal. (2009, to appear)

  9. Janovská D., Opfer G.: Linear equations in quaternionic variables. Mitt. Math. Ges. Hamburg 27, 223–234 (2008)

    MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  10. Janovská D., Opfer G.: Givens’ transformation applied to quaternion valued vectors. BIT 43(Suppl.), 991–1002 (2003)

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  11. Lam T.Y.: A first course in noncommutative rings, 2nd edn, pp. 385. Springer, New York (2001)

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  12. De Leo S., Ducati G., Leonardi V.: Zeros of unilateral quaternionic polynomials. Electron. J. Linear Algebra 15, 297–313 (2006)

    MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  13. Niven I.: Equations in quaternions. Am. Math. Monthly 48, 654–661 (1941)

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  14. Opfer G.: Polynomials and Vandermonde matrices over the field of quaternions. Electron. Trans. Numer. Anal. 36, 9–16 (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  15. Pogorui A., Shapiro M.: On the structure of the set of zeros of quaternionic polynomials. Complex Var. Elliptic Funct. 49, 379–389 (2004)

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  16. Pumplün S., Walcher S.: On the zeros of polynomials over quaternions. Comm. Algebra 30, 4007–4018 (2002)

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  17. Serôdio R., Pereira E., Vitória J.: Computing the zeros of quaternionic polynomials. Comput. Math. Appl. 42, 1229–1237 (2001)

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  18. van der Waerden, B.L.: Algebra I, 5. Aufl., 292 p. Springer, Berlin (1960)

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gerhard Opfer.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Janovská, D., Opfer, G. The classification and the computation of the zeros of quaternionic, two-sided polynomials. Numer. Math. 115, 81–100 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00211-009-0274-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00211-009-0274-y

Mathematics Subject Classification (2000)

Navigation