English

Midpoints and critical points

Classical Analysis and ODEs 2025-12-09 v1

Abstract

For a degree 55 real polynomial with roots x1x5x_1\leq \cdots \leq x_5 and roots ξ1ξ4\xi_1\leq \cdots \leq \xi_4 of its derivative, we set zj:=(xj+xj+1)/2z_j:=(x_j+x_{j+1})/2, 1j41\leq j\leq 4. We prove that one cannot have at the same time min1j3(zj+1zj)min1j3(ξj+1ξj)\min_{1\leq j\leq 3}(z_{j+1}-z_j)\geq \min_{1\leq j\leq 3}(\xi_{j+1}-\xi_j) and max1j3(zj+1zj)max1j3(ξj+1ξj)\max_{1\leq j\leq 3}(z_{j+1}-z_j)\geq \max_{1\leq j\leq 3}(\xi_{j+1}-\xi_j). The result settles a general question about midpoints and critical points of hyperbolic polynomials.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2512.07322,
  title  = {Midpoints and critical points},
  author = {Yousra Gati and Vladimir Petrov Kostov},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2512.07322},
  year   = {2025}
}
R2 v1 2026-07-01T08:14:29.142Z