Recent advances on determining the number of real roots of parametric polynomials (Q1808669)

The classical Sturm theorem is a convenient tool for determining the number of roots of a given polynomial in a certain range. However, today it is desirable to have a more general algorithm which can also deal with polynomials with symbolic or literal coefficients. The present paper is devoted to provide a complete discrimination system which could be used to determine the number of roots in some interval of a parametric real polynomial. Recall that a complete discrimination system (CDS) is a set of explicit expressions in terms of the coefficients of the given polynomial, which is sufficient for determining the number and multiplicities of the roots, that is to say, to determine the complete root classification. The main ingredients are the discrimination matrix, the discrimination sequence, and the (revised) sign list. As an application, the number of negative (positive) real roots of a polynomial is given in terms of the number of sign changes and the number of non-vanishing members of the (revised) sign list of the principal minor sequence associated with the polynomials discrimination matrix.