Bounds for resultants of univariate and bivariate polynomials (Q848582)

The authors consider bounds on the size of the resultant for univariate and bivariate polynomials. For univariate polynomials they extend the traditional representation of the resultant by the zeros of the argument polynomials to formal resultants, defined as the determinants of the Sylvester matrix for a pair of polynomials whose actual degree may be lower than their formal degree due to vanishing leading coefficients. For bivariate polynomials, the resultant is a univariate polynomial resulting by the elimination of one of the variables, and the main result is a bound on the largest coefficient of this univariate polynomial. This bound is attainable.