Number of zeros of diagonal polynomials over finite fields (Q5927547)

Let \(N\) be the number of solutions of the equation \[ c_1x^{d_1}_1 +\cdots + c_nx_n^{d_n} =c \] over a finite field \(F_{q}\), where \(d_i/(q-1)\), \(c_i\in F_q^{*}\) and \(c\in F_q\). In this paper the authors prove that if \(b_1\) is the least integer such that \(b_1\geq\sum_{i=1}^{n} (f/r_i)(D_i,p-1)/(p-1)\) then \(q^{b_2}/N\), where \(b_2=[b_1/f]-1\), \(D_id_i=p-1\), and \(r_i\) is the least integer such that \(d_i/(p^{r_i}-1)\). This result is an improvement on the previous results of \textit{J. Ax} [Am. J. Math. 86, 255-261 (1964; Zbl 0121.02003)] and \textit{D. Wan} [Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 103, 1049-1052 (1988; Zbl 0659.10017)] in certain cases.