Some monomials in the universal Wu classes (Q2638602)

Let BO denote the classifying space for stable real vector bundles. Its cohomology ring mod 2, \(H^*(BO,{\mathbb{Z}}_ 2)\), is a polynomial ring over \({\mathbb{Z}}_ 2\) on the universal Stiefel-Whitney classes \(w_ i\in H^ i(BO;{\mathbb{Z}}_ 2)\). The i-th universal Wu class \(v_ i\in H^ i(BO,{\mathbb{Z}}_ 2)\) is a polynomial \(v_ i=v_ i(w_ 1,...,w_ i)\) on the Stiefel-Whitney classes \(w_ j\) with coefficients in \({\mathbb{Z}}_ 2\). The author studies the coefficients of the monomials \(w_ j^ 2\), \(2j=i\), and \(w_ jw_ 1^{i-j}\), \(i\geq j\geq 2\), in the polynomial \(v_ i(w_ 1,...,w_ i)\).