Distances from differences of roots of polynomials to the nearest integers (Q1199554)

Let \(f(x)\) denote a polynomial with integer coefficients (the authors note that it is no more difficult to allow the coefficients to lie in a discrete normed commutative ring without zero divisors). Let \(\lambda_ 1,\dots,\lambda_ m\) denote the distinct roots of \(f\) and let \(\delta(f)=\min_{1\leq i<j\leq m}\|\lambda_ i-\lambda_ j\|\), where \(\| z\|\) denotes the distance from \(z\) to the integers. Let \(H(f)\) be the height of \(f\) (the maximum of the absolute value of its coefficients) and define \(\theta(f)=\{6^{n^ 2}(H(f)+1)^{n^ 2+n}\}^{-1}\). Using estimates of a resultant, the authors show that either \(\delta(f)=0\) or else \(\delta(f)\geq\theta(f)\). They use this to give an estimate of the complexity of calculating an approximation to \(\delta(f)\). This question arises, for example, in constructing power series solutions of certain ordinary differential equations.