Definition:Polynomial Function/Complex

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Definition

Let $S \subset \C$ be a subset of the complex numbers.

Definition 1

A complex polynomial function on $S$ is a function $f : S \to \C$ for which there exist:

a natural number $n \in \N$
complex numbers $a_0, \ldots, a_n \in \C$

such that for all $z \in S$:

$\map f z = \ds \sum_{k \mathop = 0}^n a_k z^k$

where $\ds \sum$ denotes indexed summation.


Definition 2

Let $\C \sqbrk X$ be the polynomial ring in one variable over $\C$.

Let $\C^S$ be the ring of mappings from $S$ to $\C$.

Let $\iota \in \C^S$ denote the inclusion $S \hookrightarrow \C$.


A complex polynomial function on $S$ is a function $f: S \to \C$ which is in the image of the evaluation homomorphism $\C \sqbrk X \to \C^S$ at $\iota$.


Coefficients

The parameters $a_0, \ldots a_n \in \C$ are known as the coefficients of the polynomial $P$.



Also known as

A polynomial function is often simply called polynomial.

Some sources refer to it as a rational integral function.


Also see

  • Results about complex polynomial functions can be found here.