On the order of algebraic differential equations satisfied by Schanuel functions (Q1898949)

The Schanuel functions in \(m\) variables are those obtained from the complex numbers and the variables using only addition, multiplication and exponentiation. It has been proved by \textit{C. Henson} and \textit{L. A. Rubel} [Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 282, 1-32 (1984; Zbl 0533.03015)] and \textit{L. Van den Dries} [Pac. J. Math. 113, 51-66 (1984; Zbl 0603.13019)] that, up to obvious cancellations, there is a unique representation for each Schanuel function. In the first part of the paper it is shown that this unique representation theorem in the case of several variables can be easily deduced from the case of one variable. The second part of the paper is concerned with Schanuel functions in one variable. The height of such a function is, roughly speaking, the number of stacked exponentiations it involves. It is shown that a Schanuel function \(f\) of height \(n\) cannot satisfy an algebraic differential equation of order \(n-1\) (namely functions \(f, f', \dots, f^{(n-1)}\) are algebraically independent over \(\mathbb{C} (z)\)).