Certified approximate univariate GCDs Original Research Article

We study the approximate GCD of two univariate polynomials given with limited accuracy or, equivalently, the exact GCD of the perturbed polynomials within some prescribed tolerance. A perturbed polynomial is regarded as a family of polynomials in a classification space, which leads to an accurate analysis of the computation. Considering only the Sylvester matrix singular values, as is frequently suggested in the literature, does not suffice to solve the problem completely, even when the extended euclidean algorithm is also used. We provide a counterexample that illustrates this claim and indicates the problemʹs hardness. SVD computations on subresultant matrices lead to upper bounds on the degree of the approximate GCD. Further use of the subresultant matrices singular values yields an approximate syzygy of the given polynomials, which is used to establish a gap theorem on certain singular values that certifies the maximum-degree approximate GCD. This approach leads directly to an algorithm for computing the approximate GCD polynomial. Lastly, we suggest the use of weighted norms in order to sharpen the theoremʹs conditions in a more intrinsic context.