On the nonvanishing of homogeneous product sums (Q5903943)

The paper makes a contribution toward settling Morgan Ward's conjecture that the homogeneous product sum \[ H_ n=H_ n(a,b,c)=\sum_{i+j+k=n}a^ i b^ j c^ k \] never vanishes for nonzero integers a,b,c. Ward proved this conjecture for even n and also for \(n=3\). The author strengthens the result for even n by showing that \(H_ n(a,b,c)>0\) for even n and all real numbers a,b,c except \(a=b=c=0\). He also shows that \(H_ n(a,b,c)\neq 0\) for odd integers a,b,c and every \(n\geq 0\), supplementing recent work of the reviewer [J. Number Theory 24, 95-106 (1986; Zbl 0593.10014)]. Finally, he points out an error in Ward's purported proof of the conjecture in the case where \(n+2\) is prime. If n is odd and not all three of a,b,c are odd, the Ward conjecture remains unsettled, except for the cases treated by the reviewer in the paper cited.