English

M\"obius Polynomials

Combinatorics 2013-12-16 v1

Abstract

We introduce the M\"obius polynomial Mn(x)=dnμ(nd)xd M_n(x) = \sum_{d|n} \mu\left( \frac nd \right) x^d , which gives the number of aperiodic bracelets of length nn with xx possible types of gems, and therefore satisfies Mn(x)0M_n(x) \equiv 0 (mod nn) for all xZx \in \mathbb Z. We derive some key properties, analyze graphs in the complex plane, and then apply M\"obius polynomials combinatorially to juggling patterns, irreducible polynomials over finite fields, and Euler's totient theorem.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1312.3848,
  title  = {M\"obius Polynomials},
  author = {Will Murray},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1312.3848},
  year   = {2013}
}

Comments

10 pages, 2 figures

R2 v1 2026-06-22T02:27:08.432Z