3.II.14H

Complex Analysis | Part IB, 2006

Assuming the principle of the argument, prove that any polynomial of degree nn has precisely nn zeros in C\mathbf{C}, counted with multiplicity.

Consider a polynomial p(z)=z4+az3+bz2+cz+dp(z)=z^{4}+a z^{3}+b z^{2}+c z+d, and let RR be a positive real number such that aR3+bR2+cR+d<R4|a| R^{3}+|b| R^{2}+|c| R+|d|<R^{4}. Define a curve Γ:[0,1]C\Gamma:[0,1] \rightarrow \mathbf{C} by

Γ(t)={p(Reπit) for 0t12(22t)p(iR)+(2t1)p(R) for 12t1\Gamma(t)= \begin{cases}p\left(R e^{\pi i t}\right) & \text { for } 0 \leqslant t \leqslant \frac{1}{2} \\ (2-2 t) p(i R)+(2 t-1) p(R) & \text { for } \frac{1}{2} \leqslant t \leqslant 1\end{cases}

Show that the winding number n(Γ,0)=1n(\Gamma, 0)=1.

Suppose now that p(z)p(z) has real coefficients, that z4bz2+dz^{4}-b z^{2}+d has no real zeros, and that the real zeros of p(z)p(z) are all strictly negative. Show that precisely one of the zeros of p(z)p(z) lies in the quadrant {x+iy:x>0,y>0}\{x+i y: x>0, y>0\}.

[Standard results about winding numbers may be quoted without proof; in particular, you may wish to use the fact that if γi:[0,1]C,i=1,2\gamma_{i}:[0,1] \rightarrow \mathbf{C}, i=1,2, are two closed curves with γ2(t)γ1(t)<γ1(t)\left|\gamma_{2}(t)-\gamma_{1}(t)\right|<\left|\gamma_{1}(t)\right| for all tt, then n(γ1,0)=n(γ2,0)n\left(\gamma_{1}, 0\right)=n\left(\gamma_{2}, 0\right).]

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