Quasi-polynomial
{{Short description|Generalization of polynomials}}
{{For multi|quasi-polynomial bounds in the analysis of algorithms|Quasi-polynomial growth|functions that take the form of polynomials in a variable and an exponential function|Exponential polynomial}}
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In mathematics, a quasi-polynomial (pseudo-polynomial) is a generalization of polynomials. While the coefficients of a polynomial come from a ring, the coefficients of quasi-polynomials are instead periodic functions with integral period. Quasi-polynomials appear throughout much of combinatorics as the enumerators for various objects.
A quasi-polynomial can be written as , where is a periodic function with integral period. If is not identically zero, then the degree of is . Equivalently, a function is a quasi-polynomial if there exist polynomials such that when . The polynomials are called the constituents of .
Examples
- Given a -dimensional polytope with rational vertices , define to be the convex hull of . The function is a quasi-polynomial in of degree . In this case, is a function . This is known as the Ehrhart quasi-polynomial, named after Eugène Ehrhart.
- Given two quasi-polynomials and , the convolution of and is
::
:which is a quasi-polynomial with degree
References
- Stanley, Richard P. (1997). [http://www-math.mit.edu/~rstan/ec/ Enumerative Combinatorics, Volume 1]. Cambridge University Press. {{isbn|0-521-55309-1}}, 0-521-56069-1.
Category:Algebraic combinatorics
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