SYMMETRIC INTERPOLATION, EXCHANGE LEMMA
AND SYLVESTER SUMS

arXiv:1503.00607v3 [] 6 Sep 2016

TERESA KRICK, AGNES SZANTO, AND MARCELO VALDETTARO
Abstract. The theory of symmetric multivariate Lagrange interpolation is a
beautiful but rather unknown tool that has many applications. Here we derive
from it an Exchange Lemma that allows to explain in a simple and natural
way the full description of the double sum expressions introduced by Sylvester
in 1853 in terms of subresultants and their Bézout coefficients.
Keywords: Sylvester dou
2010 MSC: 13P15, 65D05

1. Introduction
W. Chen and J. Louck proved in [Chen & Louck 1996, Th.2.1] a beautiful interpolation result which describes the Lagrange interpolation basis for all multivariate
symmetric polynomials in m − d variables of multidegree bounded by (d, . . . , d),
for 0 ≤ d < m, see Section 2 below for a precise statement. They use their result
to recover identities involving symmetric functions, generalizing for instance the
following polynomial identity for a finite set A = {α1 , . . . , αm } contained in a field,
and a finite set of variables X = {x1 . . . , xm−d }:
Q

 Y
X
x ∈X,αi ∈A′ (xj − αi )
αj Q j
x1 · · · xm−d =
.
αj ∈A
/ ′ ,αi ∈A′ (αj − αi )
′
′
′
A ⊂A,|A |=d

αj ∈A
/

Here we take another direction and derive from this symmetric interpolation
the following Exchange Lemma (see Corollary 3.2 below): given 0 ≤ d ≤ m and
0 ≤ r ≤ m − d, for any finite sets A and B contained in a field, satisfying |A| = m
and |B| ≥ d, and any set of variables X with |X| = r, one has the following
polynomial identity
X
X
R(X, A′ )
R(X, B ′ )
′
d(m−d)
R(A\A′ , B)
R(A,
B\B
)
=
(−1)
,
R(A′ , A\A′ )
R(B ′ , B\B ′ )
′
′
A ⊂A
|A′ |=d

B ⊂B
|B ′ |=d

Q
where R(Y, Z) := y∈Y,z∈Z (y − z) (and R(Y, Z) := 1 if Y or Z is empty).
In the particular case that |B| = d, our Exchange Lemma reads
X
R(X, A′ )
R(A\A′ , B)
= R(X, B),
R(A\A′ , A′ )
′
′
A ⊂A,|A |=d

which is exactly the statement of [Lascoux, Lem.Rt1], proved there using Schur
functions. However, it does not seem possible to directly recover our Exchange
Lemma from Lascoux result.
In these pages, we use symmetric interpolation and the Exchange Lemma to show
in a very natural way the different and somehow puzzling relationships between
Sylvester single and double sums, subresultants and their Bézout coefficients.
Date: September 7, 2016.
Teresa Krick is partially suported by ANPCyT PICT-2013-0294 and UBACyT 2014-201720020130100143BA, and Agnes Szanto was partially supported by NSF grant CCF-1217557.
1

2

TERESA KRICK, AGNES SZANTO, AND MARCELO VALDETTARO

Double sums were introduced in [Sylvester 1853]: for A = {α1 , . . . , αm } and
B = {β1 , . . . , βn } contained in a field, he defined for 0 ≤ p ≤ m, 0 ≤ q ≤ n

X

Sylp,q (A, B)(x) :=

R(A′ , B ′ ) R(A\A′ , B\B ′ )

A′ ⊂A, B ′ ⊂B
|A′ |=p, |B ′ |=q

R(x, A′ ) R(x, B ′ )
,
R(A′ , A\A′ ) R(B ′ , B\B ′ )

which is a polynomial in x of degree bounded by p + q =: d. When p = 0 or q = 0,
the resulting expression is called a single sum.
Note that the previous Exchange Lemma applied to X = {x} reads
(1)

Syld,0 (A, B)(x) = (−1)d(m−d)Syl0,d (A, B)(x),

which is one of the relationships between single sums that we can derive from
Sylvester’s statements in his original work.
Subresultants were also introduced
Pn by iSylvester in the same article. For f (x) =
Pm
i
f
x
with
f
=
6
0,
g(x)
=
m
i=0 gi x with gn 6= 0, and d ≤ min{m, n} when
i=0 i
m 6= n or d < m = n,
m+n−2d

fm

Sresd (f, g)(x) := det

···
..
.
fm

gn

···
..
.
gn

···

fd+1−(n−d−1)
..
.

xn−d−1 f (x)
..
.

...
···

fd+1
gd+1−(m−d−1)
..
.

f (x)
xm−d−1 g(x)
..
.

gd+1

g(x)

···

n−d

.
m−d

This turns out to be a polynomial in x of degree bounded by d.
Associating to A and B the monic polynomials f (x) := (x − α1 ) · · · (x − αm ) and
g(x) := (x − β1 ) · · · (x − βn ), one has for instance
Syl0,0 (A, B) = R(A, B) = Res(f, g),
Sylm,0 (A, B) = R(x, A) = f (= Sresm (f, g) if m < n),
Syl0,n (A, B) = R(x, B) = g (= Sresn (f, g) if n < m),
Sylm,n (A, B) = R(A, B)R(x, A)R(x, B) = Res(f, g) f g,
where Res(f, g) := Sres0 (f, g) is the resultant
of f and g, which is well-known to
Q
satisfy the Poisson formula Res(f, g) = α∈A g(α) = R(A, B).
Sylvester also mentions in his article [Sylvester 1853] the link between double
sums and subresultants, and many other expressions for Sylp,q (A, B) depending on
the values of p and q, see also [Lascoux and Pragasz 2003, D’Andrea et al. 2007,
Roy & Szpirglas 2011]. The full description of Sylp,q (A, B) for all possible cases of
0 ≤ p ≤ m, 0 ≤ q ≤ n is given as follows:
Theorem 1.1. (See [D’Andrea et al. 2009, Main Th. 1] and also [Krick & Szanto 2012,
Th. 1].)
Let 1 ≤ m ≤ n, 0 ≤ p ≤ m, 0 ≤ q ≤ n, and set d := p + q and k := m + n − d − 1.

SYMMETRIC INTERPOLATION AND SYLVESTER SUMS

3

Then



(−1)p(m−d) dp Sresd (f, g)





0





 (−1)(p+1)(m+n−1) m f
p


Sylvp,q (A, B) =


k
k
σ

(−1)
F
(f,
g)
f
−
G
(f,
g)
g

k
k
m−p
n−q








k
k+1
σ+1

=
(−1)
Sres
(f,
g)
−
F
(f,
g)
f

k
k
n−q
m−p



Res(f, g) f g

for

0 ≤ d < m or m = d < n

for

m<d <n−1

for

m<d =n−1

for

n≤d≤m+n−1

for

d = m + n.

where σ := (d − m)(n − q) + d − n − 1 and Fk (f, g) and Gk (f, g) are the polynomial
coefficients of f and g in the Bezout identity
(2)

Sresk (f, g) = Fk (f, g) f + Gk (f, g) g,

given by the determinantal expressions
m+n−2k

fm

Fk (f, g)(x) := det

gn

···
..
.

···
fm

...
···

gn

···

···
..
.

fk+1−(n−k−1)
..
.
fk+1
gk+1−(m−k−1)
..
.
gk+1

xn−k−1
..
.
1
0
..
.
0

n−k

m−k

m+n−2k

fm

Gk (f, g)(x) := det

···
..
.

···
fm

gn

···
..
.
gn

...
···
···

fk+1−(n−k−1)
..
.
fk+1
gk+1−(m−k−1)
..
.
gk+1

0
..
.
0
xm−k−1
..
.
1

n−k

.
m−k

We note that Theorem 1.1, even if stated for m ≤ n, indeed gives the full
description of Sylp,q (A, B) in terms of Sresd (f, g) and Fk (f, g), Gk (f, g) for any
value of m and n because of the symmetries
(3)

Sylp,q (A, B) = (−1)pq+(m−p)(n−q) Sylq,p (B, A)
Sresd (f, g) = (−1)(m−d)(n−d)Sresd (g, f ).

This theorem implies in particular Identity (1). In fact many authors worked out
the relationship between single sums Syld,0 (A, B) and subresultants Sresd (f, g) in
the case d ≤ min{m, n} when m 6= n or d < m = n, but all descriptions involving
double sums or the other cases of p and q were much harder and unnatural to obtain. In [D’Andrea et al. 2009], Theorem 1.1 was obtained as the determinant of an
intricate matrix expression describing Sylp,q (A, B) while in [Krick & Szanto 2012]
it was obtained by a careful induction from some extremal cases, knowing of course
in advance what one wants to show. Here we show that Theorem 1.1 is in fact a
natural consequence of interpreting single and double sums as specific instances of
symmetric multivariate Lagrange interpolation and the Exchange Lemma. On one
hand, symmetric interpolation yields very easily the identity between single sums
and subresultants (answering thus the question of a referee of [D’Andrea et al. 2009]
who asked whether this could be obtained using specialization instead of linear algebra). This is because Sylvester single sums can be viewed as generalizations of

4

TERESA KRICK, AGNES SZANTO, AND MARCELO VALDETTARO

Lagrange interpolation formulas, as it is for the case p = 0, q = n − 1 explained
below. This is in fact the way we recovered Chen and Louck’s symmetric interpolation result [Chen & Louck 1996], as we were unaware of its existence. We also
note that Lascoux in [Lascoux 2003, Section 3.5] mentions the possibility of using Lagrange interpolation techniques to prove identities for Sylvester single sums,
without developing it. On the other hand, the Exchange Lemma shows that in fact
a natural relationship exists between single and double sums (Propositions 3.3 and
3.8 below), therefore yielding all remaining expressions in Theorem 1.1.
Section 2 below treats the particular case of the Sylvester single sum Syl0,d , which
not only motivates the use of the interpolation technique we are referring to, but
ends up being a key case for the general case treated in Section 3. We emphasize
in Section 2 the very simple symmetric Lagrange interpolation Proposition 2.3,
see [Chen & Louck 1996, Th.2.1], which is the basis for all our development, and
Proposition 2.9, which allows to make the link between the single sum and the
subresultant. In Section 3 we stress again the crucial Exchange Lemma 3.1, also
obtained as a consequence of the symmetric Lagrange interpolation Proposition
2.3, that seems to be novel and allows to express all cases of Sylvester’s double
sums Sylp,q (A, B) in terms of the particular cases Syl0,d (A, B) and Sylm,d−m (A, B),
where d := p + q. Theorem 1.1 is then obtained as a consequence of Corollaries
3.4 and 3.8. In addition, in Corollary 3.10 we obtain expressions in roots for the
polynomials Fk (f, g) and Gk (f, g) in Bezout identity (2) below. Finally, we show
in Corollary 3.13 that Fk (f, g) and Gk (f, g) are symmetric polynomials in A ∪ {x}
and B ∪ {x}, respectively.
2. Sylvester’s single sums and symmetric Lagrange interpolation
We keep the following notation for the whole paper:
m
X
A = (α1 , . . . , αm ), f = (x − α1 ) · · · (x − αm ) =
fi xi , where fm = 1,
i=0

B = (β1 , . . . , βn ),

g = (x − β1 ) · · · (x − βn ) =

n
X

gi xi , where gn = 1.

i=0

The double sum expression specializes when p = 0 and q = d ≤ n to the following
single sum expression:
Syl0,d (A, B)(x) =

X

R(A, B\B ′ )

B ′ ⊂B,|B ′ |=d

R(x, B ′ )
R(B ′ , B\B ′ )

R(x, B ′ )
R(B\B ′ , B ′ )
B ′ ⊂B,|B ′ |=d
 Y
Q
X
β∈B ′ (x − β)
(m−d)(n−d)
.
f (β)
= (−1)
R(B\B ′ , B ′ )
′
′
′

= (−1)(m−d)(n−d)

X

B ⊂B,|B |=d

R(B\B ′ , A)

β ∈B
/

In this section we investigate the relationship between this single sum expression
and a specific multivariate symmetric Lagrange interpolation instance. As we will
see in next section, the symmetric interpolation tools that we describe here for the
single sum expressions will be crucial to tackle the claims about Sylvester’s double
sums.
As a motivation for what follows, we note that when d = n − 1 we get
Q
X
j6=i (x − βj )
m+n−1
Q
,
Syl0,n−1 (A, B)(x) = (−1)
f (βi )
j6=i (βi − βj )
1≤i≤n

SYMMETRIC INTERPOLATION AND SYLVESTER SUMS

5

where it is well-known that the set
n Q (x − βj )
o
Q j6=i
;1≤i≤n
j6=i (βi − βj )

forms the so-called Lagrange basis, used to define the solution of the Lagrange
interpolation problem, that is the unique polynomial of degree ≤ n − 1 that
takes given values at the n nodes β1 , . . . , βn . Therefore, Syl0,n−1 (A, B)(x) equals
the unique polynomial hn−1 of degree ≤ n − 1 which satisfies the n conditions
hn−1 (β1 ) = (−1)m+n−1 f (β1 ), . . . , hn−1 (βn ) = (−1)m+n−1 f (βn ). In particular,
when m < n, Syl0,n−1 (A, B)(x) = (−1)m+n−1 f (x).
When trying to generalize this to the case when d < n − 1, the difficulty is that
the polynomials
Y

R(x, B ′ ) =
(x − β) ; B ′ ⊂ B, |B ′ | = d
β∈B ′

are linearly dependent in
 the vector space Kd [x] of polynomials of degree bounded
by d, since there are nd > d + 1 of them (here K = Q(A, B), a field containing A
and B).
This can be fixed for 0 ≤ d ≤ n − 1 by considering a symmetric multivariate
interpolation problem.
2.1. Symmetric Lagrange interpolation.
Notation 2.1. We denote by S(ℓ,d) the K-vector space of all symmetric polynomials h in ℓ variables x1 , . . . , xℓ of multidegree bounded by (d, . . . , d), i.e. such that
degxi (h) ≤ d for 1 ≤ i ≤ ℓ (with no specified bound for the total degree of h).

Lemma 2.2. dimK (S(ℓ,d) ) = ℓ+d
d .

Proof. It is well-known by the fundamental theorem of elementary symmetric polynomials that the symmetric polynomials in ℓ-variables are generated as an algebra
by the elementary symmetric polynomials
e1 (x1 , . . . , xℓ ) = x1 + · · · + xℓ , . . . , eℓ (x1 , . . . , xℓ ) = x1 · · · xℓ ,

all homogeneous of degree 1 in each variable xi . Therefore, each symmetric polynomial of multidegree bounded by (d, . . . , d) can be uniquely expressed as h =
P
aℓ
a1
a ca e1 · · · eℓ satisfying |a| := a1 + · · · + aℓ ≤ d. Thus it corresponds to a polynomial in e1 , . . . , eℓ of total-degree bounded by d: the space of such polynomials
has dimension ℓ+d

d .

We note that when d < n and ℓ := n − d, then dimK (S(n−d,d) ) = nd .
Next proposition was proved in [Chen & Louck 1996, Th.2.1], but we include
R(X,B ′ )
′
its proof here for sake of completeness. It shows that the set { R(B\B
′ ,B ′ ) , B ⊂
B, |B ′ | = d} is the Lagrange interpolation basis for all symmetric polynomials in
n − d variables X = {x1 , . . . , xn−d } of multidegree bounded by (d, . . . , d).
Proposition 2.3. Set 0 ≤ d ≤ n − 1 and X := (x1 , . . . , xn−d ). Given B =
{β1 , . . . , βn }, the set

B := R(X, B ′ ) ; B ′ ⊂ B, |B ′ | = d ⊂ S(n−d,d)

is a basis of S(n−d,d) .
Moreover, any polynomial h(X) ∈ S(n−d,d) satisfies
X
R(X, B ′ )
h(B\B ′ )
h(X) =
R(B\B ′ , B ′ )
′
′
B ⊂B,|B |=d

6

TERESA KRICK, AGNES SZANTO, AND MARCELO VALDETTARO

where h(B\B ′ ) := h(βi1 , . . . , βin−d ) for B\B ′ = {βi1 , . . . , βin−d }.

Proof. Since there are exactly nd = dimK (S(n−d,d) ) elements in B, it is enough to
prove that all the elements are linearly independent. Suppose
X
cB ′ R(X, B ′ ) = 0.
B ′ ⊂B,|B ′ |=d

For each subset {βi1 , . . . , βin−d } ⊂ B, if we evaluate the left hand side at x1 =
βi1 , . . . , xn−d = βin−d , every term in the sum vanishes except for B ′ := B\{βi1 , . . . , βin−d },
where it gives cB ′ R(B\B ′ , B ′ ). Since R(B\B ′ , B ′ ) 6= 0, we get that cB ′ = 0, proving linear independence. The second claim follows from the fact that h(X) ∈
S(n−d,d) is uniquely expressed in the basis B, and its coordinates are uniquely de
fined by all evaluations at {βi1 , . . . , βin−d } ⊂ B.
2.2. Sylvester single sum.
Notation 2.4. Set 0 ≤ d ≤ n − 1 and X := {x1 , . . . , xn−d }. We define
 Y
 R(X, B ′ )
X
f (β)
MSyl0,d (A, B)(X) := (−1)(m−d)(n−d)
.
R(B\B ′ , B ′ )
′
′
′
B ⊂B,|B |=d

β ∈B
/

Observation 2.5. By Proposition 2.3, MSyl0,d (A, B)(X) ∈ S(n−d,d) is the unique

polynomial in S(n−d,d) satisfying the nd conditions
Y
f (β) for all B ′ ⊂ B, |B ′ | = d.
MSyl0,d (A, B)(B\B ′ ) = (−1)(m−d)(n−d)
β∈B\B ′

In particular,
(4)

MSyl0,d (A, B)(X) = (−1)(m−d)(n−d)f (x1 ) · · · f (xn−d ) when deg(f ) ≤ d.

The choice of the notation MSyl0,d (A, B)(X) for this polynomial stands for multivariate Sylvester’s sum: the polynomial coincides with Syl0,d (A, B)(x) when X =
{x}, i.e. d = n − 1, or the latter is a coefficient of the former when there are two
variables or more, i.e. d < n − 1:
Remark 2.6. Set 0 ≤ d ≤ n − 1 and X := (x1 , . . . , xn−d ). Then


coeff xd1 ···xdn−d−1 MSyl0,d (A, B)(X) for 0 ≤ d < n − 1
Syl0,d (A, B)(xn−d ) =
MSyl0,d (A, B)(xn−d )
for d = n − 1.
Here coeff xd1 ···xdn−d−1 denotes the coefficient in K[xn−d ] of the monomial xd1 · · · xdn−d−1
of MSyl0,d (A, B)(X).
Together with (4), this immediately implies:
Corollary 2.7. Set 0 ≤ d ≤ n − 1. If m ≤ d then

0
for m < d < n − 1
Syl0,d (A, B) =
(−1)(m−d)(n−d) f for m < d = n − 1 or m = d ≤ n − 1.
Next we show a matrix formulation for the polynomial MSyl0,d (A, B) that will
allow to recover the value of Syl0,d (A, B)(x) for the remaining case d ≤ m. We
need to introduce the following notations for the Vandermonde matrix.
Notation 2.8. Let X = (x1 , . . . , xk ) be a k-tuple of (distinct) indeterminates or
elements. We denote the (shifted) Vandermonde matrix of size ℓ × k corresponding

SYMMETRIC INTERPOLATION AND SYLVESTER SUMS

7

to X by
k

Vℓ (X) :=

xℓ−1
1
..
.

...

1

...

xℓ−1
k
..
.

ℓ

.

1

When ℓ = k we simply write V (X) := Vℓ (X), and we recall that det(V (X)) =
Q
1≤i<j≤k (xi − xj ).
Proposition 2.9. Set 0 ≤ d ≤ min{n − 1, m} and X := {x1 , . . . , xn−d }. The
polynomial MSyl0,d (A, B)(X) of Notation 2.4 satisfies the following determinantal
expression:
MSyl0,d (A, B)(X) =
m−d

fm

det

···
..
.

···
fm

gn

···
..

.

...
···

n−d

fd+1
..
.
fn
gn−(m−d−1)
..
.
gn

f (x1 )
xn−d−1
1
..
.
f (x1 )
g(x1 )
xm−d−1
1
..
.
g(x1 )

···
···
···
···

xn−d−1
f (xn−d )
n−d
..
.
f (xn−d )
xm−d−1
g(xn−d )
n−d
..
.
g(xn−d )

n−d

m−d

det(V (X))

Proof. In view of the definition of MSyl0,d (A, B), we only need to check that the
expression given in the right-hand side of the equality is a polynomial, which is
symmetric, of degree at most d in each variable xk , and that when specializing the
expression into (βi1 , . . . , βin−d ) it gives (−1)(m−d)(n−d)f (βi1 ) · · · f (βin−d ).
It is a polynomial because the denominator divides the numerator: for each j > i
the term xj − xi of det(V (x1 , . . . , xn−d )) divides the numerator (letting xi = xj
yields the vanishing of the above determinant). This polynomial is symmetric
because permuting xi with xj changes the sign of the determinants both in the
numerator and in the denominator.
Let us show the degree bound for x1 . We denote by C(j) the column j of the
matrix in the numerator. Then, performing the change
C(m − d + 1) 7→ C(m − d + 1) − xm+n−d−1
C(1) − · · · − xn1 C(m − d) =: C ′ (m − d + 1)
1
does not change the determinant. However, we have
 ′
C (m − d + 1)1 = fd x1n−1 + · · ·




..


.


 ′
C (m − d + 1)n−d = fn−1 x1n−1 + · · ·
n−1
′

 C (m − d + 1)n−d+1 = gn−(m−d−1)−1 x1 + · · ·


..



.

 ′
C (n − d + 1)m+n−2d = gn−1 x1n−1 + · · ·

Therefore, the degree in x1 of the top determinant is bounded by n − 1 while the
degree in x1 of det(V (x1 , . . . , xn−d )) is exactly n − d − 1, which implies that the
degree in x1 of the quotient is bounded by n − 1 − (n − d − 1) = d.

.

8

TERESA KRICK, AGNES SZANTO, AND MARCELO VALDETTARO

We then evaluate the right-hand side expression into a (n−d)-tuple (βi1 , . . . , βin−d )
for fixed 1 ≤ i1 < · · · < in−d ≤ n. It is clear that the top determinant equals
(−1)(m−d)(n−d) det(V (βi1 , . . . , βin−d ))f (βi1 ) · · · f (βin−d ),
while the bottom determinant equals det(V (βi1 , . . . , βin−d )). This concludes the
proof.

Note that Proposition 2.9 is very similar in spirit to the matrix definition of the
subresultant: actually they coincide when d = n − 1. This inspires the following
result.
Proposition 2.10. Set 0 ≤ d ≤ n − 1. For d ≤ m, one has
Syl0,d (A, B) = Sresd (f, g).
Proof. We denote by S(X) the polynomial in the numerator of the expression for
MSyl0,d (A, B)(X) in the right-hand side of Lemma 2.9, and by cd (xn−d ) ∈ K[xn−d ]
the coefficient of xd1 · · · xdn−d−1 in MSyl0,d (A, B)(X), that we want to show equals
Sresd (f, g)(xn−d ) according to Remark 2.6.
Since MSyl0,d (A, B)(X) = S(X)/ det(V (X)), we get
S(X) = MSyl0,d (A, B)(X) det(V (X))
= (cd (xn−d ) xd1 · · · xdn−d−1 + · · · )(xn−d−1
x2n−d−2 · · · xn−d−1 + · · · )
1
= cd (xn−d ) x1n−1 x2n−2 · · · xd+1
n−d−1 + · · ·
Therefore,
cd (xn−d ) = coeff xn−1 xn−2 ···xd+1
1

2

n−d−1

(S(X)).

It is clear that the coefficient of x1n−1 · · · xd+1
n−d−1 in the determinant is obtained,
by multilinearity, from the coefficients when the column with x1 has all its exponents equal to n − 1, the column with x2 has all its exponents equal to n −
2 up to the column with xn−d−1 has all its exponents equal to d + 1, that is
coeff xn−1 ···xd+1 (S(X)) equals
1

n−d−1

m−d

fm

···
..

det

fd+1
.
.
.
fn

fn−1

gn−(m−d−1)
.
.
.
gn

gn−(m−d)
.
.
.
gn−1

.
fm

gn

n−d

···

···
..

.

...
···

fd
.
.
.

···
.
.
.
···
···
.
.
.
···

fd+1−(n−d−1)

fd+1
gd+1−(m−d−1)

gd+1

n−d−1
xn−d
f (xn−d )
.
.
.
f (xn−d )
m−d−1
xn−d
g(xn−d )
.
.
.
g(xn−d )

n−d

m−d

Thus
coeff xn−1 xn−2 ···xd+1
1

2

n−d−1

(S(X)) = Sresd (f, g)(xn−d ),

which implies cd (xn−d ) = Sresd (f, g)(xn−d ) as desired.



Putting together the information of Corollary 2.7, Proposition 2.10 and the value
of Syl0,d for d = n, this interpolation technique therefore allowed us to recover very
naturally the full description of Sylvester’s single sums Syl0,d for any 0 ≤ d ≤ n
and any m:

Sresd (f, g)



0
Syl0,d (A, B) =
(−1)m+n−1 f



g

for
for
for
for

0 ≤ d ≤ {m − 1, n} or d = m < n
m<d<n−1
m<d=n−1
m ≤ d = n.

SYMMETRIC INTERPOLATION AND SYLVESTER SUMS

9

3. Sylvester’s double sums
We treat now the case of the general double sum expression, defined for 0 ≤ p ≤
m, 0 ≤ q ≤ n. Below we show how all cases reduce to the specific instances of
Syl0,d and Sylm,d−m .
The whole section flows from the following Exchange Lemma and its Corollary,
which we could prove thanks to the interpolation Proposition 2.3 on symmetric
polynomials.
Lemma 3.1. Let A be any set with |A| = m, and set 0 ≤ p ≤ m and X =
{x1 , . . . , xm−p }. Let B be any set with |B| ≥ p. Then
X

R(A\A′ , B)

A′ ⊂A,|A′ |=p

R(X, A′ )
=
R(A\A′ , A′ )

X

R(A, B\B ′ )

B ′ ⊂B,|B ′ |=p

R(X, B ′ )
.
R(B ′ , B\B ′ )

Proof. We observe that Proposition 2.3 implies that the polynomial h(X) ∈ sλ (m − p, p)
on the left-hand side is the only symmetric polynomial satisfying the m
p conditions
′
′
h(A\A ) = R(A\A , B). Since the polynomial on the right-hand side also belongs
to S(m−p,p) , it suffices to show that it satisfies the same specialization properties,
i.e. that
X
R(A\A′ , B ′ )
= R(A\A′ , B), ∀A′ ⊂ A, |A′ | = p.
R(A, B\B ′ )
′ , B\B ′ )
R(B
′
′
B ⊂B,|B |=p

But
X

R(A, B\B ′ )

B ′ ⊂B,|B ′ |=p

R(A\A′ , B ′ )
=
R(B ′ , B\B ′ )

X

R(A′ , B\B ′ )R(A\A′ , B\B ′ )

B ′ ⊂B,|B ′ |=p

= R(A\A′ , B)

X

B ′ ⊂B,|B ′ |=p

R(A\A′ , B ′ )
R(B ′ , B\B ′ )

R(A′ , B\B ′ )
.
R(B ′ , B\B ′ )

Consider for Y = {y1 , . . . , yp } the polynomial
X
R(Y, B\B ′ )
Ψ(Y ) =
∈ S(p,|B|−p) .
R(B ′ , B\B ′ )
′
′
B ⊂B,|B |=p


It is, again by Proposition 2.3, the only polynomial in S(p,|B|−p) satisfying the |B|
p
conditions Ψ(B ′ ) = 1, ∀B ′ ⊂ B, |B ′ | = p, and therefore Ψ = 1. In particular
Ψ(A′ ) = 1, which implies the statement.

Corollary 3.2. Let A be any set with |A| = m, and set 0 ≤ p ≤ m and X =
(x1 , . . . , xr ), with r ≤ m − p. Let B be any set with |B| ≥ p. Then
X

A′ ⊂A,|A′ |=p

R(A\A′ , B)

R(X, A′ )
=
R(A\A′ , A′ )

X

B ′ ⊂B,|B ′ |=p

R(A, B\B ′ )

R(X, B ′ )
.
R(B ′ , B\B ′ )

Proof. The expressions above is simply the coefficient of xpr+1 · · · xpm−p of the expressions in Lemma 3.1.

3.1. The case 0 ≤ d ≤ n − 1.
In this section we set d := p + q, where 0 ≤ p ≤ n and 0 ≤ q ≤ n, and we assume
that it satisfies d ≤ n − 1.
We first deal with the case d ≤ min{m − 1, n − 1}. The Corollary 3.2 of the
Exchange Lemma allows to relate Sylp,q (A, B) to Syl0,p+q (A, B), simply by a careful
manipulation of terms.

10

TERESA KRICK, AGNES SZANTO, AND MARCELO VALDETTARO

Proposition 3.3. Let 0 ≤ p ≤ m, 0 ≤ q ≤ n and set d := p + q. Assume
d ≤ min{m − 1, n − 1}. Then
 
p(m−d) d
Syl0,d (A, B).
Sylp,q (A, B) = (−1)
p
Proof. First note that
Sylp,q (A, B) = (−1)p(m−d)





′
′ 
X  X
R(x, B ′ )
′
′ R(x ∪ B , A ) 

R(A\A
,
B\B
)
.

R(A\A′ , A′ )  R(B ′ , B\B ′ )
A′ ⊂A
|A′ |=p

B ′ ⊂B
|B ′ |=q

Applying the Exchange Corollary 3.2 to the coefficients inside the parenthesis of
this expression for X = x ∪ B ′ of size q + 1 ≤ m − p and B\B ′ of size n − q ≥ p
instead of B, we get
X

R(A\A′ , B\B ′ )

A′ ⊂A
|A′ |=p

R(x ∪ B ′ , A′ )
=
R(A\A′ , A′ )

X

R(A, B\(B ′ ∪ C ′ ))

C ′ ⊂B\B ′
|C ′ |=p

R(x ∪ B ′ , C ′ )
.
R(C ′ , B\(B ′ ∪ C ′ ))

Therefore,




Sylp,q (A, B) = (−1)p(m−d)

X 



′

B ⊂B
|B ′ |=q

= (−1)p(m−d)

X

R(A, B\(B ′ ∪ C ′ ))

C ′ ⊂B\B ′
|C ′ |=p

X

R(A, B\(B ′ ∪ C ′ ))

X

R(A, B\(B ′ ∪ C ′ ))

B ′ ⊂B,|B ′ |=q
C ′ ⊂B\B ′ ,|C ′ |=p

= (−1)p(m−d)

B ′ ⊂B,|B ′ |=q
C ′ ⊂B\B ′ ,|C ′ |=p


R(x ∪ B ′ , C ′ )  R(x, B ′ )

′
′
′
R(C , B\(B ∪ C ))  R(B ′ , B\B ′ )
R(B ′ , C ′ )
R(x, B ′ ∪ C ′ )
′
∪ C )) R(B ′ , B\B ′ )

R(C ′ , B\(B ′

R(x, B ′ ∪ C ′ )
.
R(B ′ ∪ C ′ , B\(B ′ ∪ C ′ ))

Finally, rewriting the sum over B ′ ⊂ B, |B ′ | = q, C ′ ⊂ B\B ′ , |C ′ | = p as a sum
over D = B ′ ∪ C ′ ⊂ B, |D| = d; C ′ ⊂ D, |C ′ | = p, we get
Sylp,q (A, B) = (−1)p(m−d)

X

D⊂B,|D|=d
C ′ ⊂D,|C ′ |=p

R(A, B\D)

R(x, D)
R(D, B\D)

 
X
R(x, D)
d
R(A, B\D)
= (−1)
R(D, B\D)
p
D⊂B,|D|=d
 
d
Syl0,d (A, B),
= (−1)p(m−d)
p
p(m−d)

by the definition of Syl0,d (A, B).



Proposition 2.10 then immediately implies
Corollary 3.4. Let 0 ≤ p ≤ m, 0 ≤ q ≤ n and set d := p + q. Assume d ≤
min{m − 1, n − 1}. Then
 
d
Sresd (f, g).
Sylp,q (A, B) = (−1)p(m−d)
p
We now deal with the remaining case of this section, m ≤ d ≤ n − 1, where
d := p + q with 0 ≤ p ≤ m, 0 ≤ q ≤ n. We express the double sum Sylp,q (A, B) by

SYMMETRIC INTERPOLATION AND SYLVESTER SUMS

11

means of an interpolation problem as in Section 2. We rewrite Sylp,q (A, B) as
Sylp,q (A, B)(x) = (−1)(m−d)(n−q)



′

′



X  X
 R(x, A′ )
′
′ R(x ∪ A , B ) 

R(B\B
,
A\A
)

R(B\B ′ , B ′ )  R(A′ , A\A′ )
′
′

A ⊂A
|A′ |=p

B ⊂B
|B ′ |=q

X

= (−1)(m−d)(n−q)

hA′ (x ∪ A′ )

A′ ⊂A,|A′ |=p

R(x, A′ )
,
R(A′ , A\A′ )

where
hA′ (x1 , x2 , . . . , xp+1 ) :=

X

B ′ ⊂B,|B ′ |=q

R(B\B ′ , A\A′ )

R({x1 , . . . , xp+1 }, B ′ )
,
R(B\B ′ , B ′ )

is a symmetric polynomial in (x1 , . . . , xp+1 ) of multidegree bounded by (q, . . . , q).
Since by hypothesis p + q ≤ n − 1, we can complete the set (x1 , . . . , xp+1 ) to the
set X = (x1 , . . . , xn−q ). We have the following Lemma:
Lemma 3.5. Let 0 ≤ p ≤ m, 0 ≤ q ≤ n, and set d := p+ q. Assume m ≤ d ≤ n− 1
and define for X = (x1 , . . . , xn−q ) the polynomial
X
R(X, B ′ )
R(B\B ′ , A\A′ )
.
HA′ (X) :=
R(B\B ′ , B ′ )
′
′
B ⊂B,|B |=q

Then
HA′ (X) = fA\A′ (x1 ) · · · fA\A′ (xn−q )
where fA\A′ (x) :=

Q

α∈A\A′ (x

− α).

Proof. Clearly HA′ (X) has multidegree (q, . . . , q),
 thus by Proposition 2.3, HA′ is
the only polynomial in S(n−q,q) satisfying the nq conditions
Y
fA\A′ (β) for all B ′ ⊂ B, |B ′ | = q,
HA′ (B\B ′ ) =
β∈B\B ′

which proves the claim since deg(fA\A′ ) = m − p ≤ q by the hypothesis m ≤ d. 
Note the similarity of HA′ with hA′ : they are the same when d = n − 1, or
the latter is a coefficient of the former when there are two variables or more, i.e.
d < n − 1:
Remark 3.6. Let 0 ≤ p ≤ m, 0 ≤ q ≤ n and set d := p + q. Assume m ≤ d ≤ n − 1
and set X = (x1 , . . . , xn−q ). Then


coeff xqp+2 ···xqn−q HA′ (X) for 0 ≤ d < n − 1
hA′ (x1 , x2 , . . . , xp+1 ) =
for
d = n − 1.
HA′ (X)
Here coeff xqp+2 ···xqn−q denotes the coefficient in K[x1 , . . . , xp+1 ] of the monomial
xqp+2 · · · xqn−q of HA′ .
Together with Corollary 3.4, Lemma 3.5 and Remark 3.6 immediately imply the
following full description of the case d ≤ n − 1:
Corollary 3.7. Let 0 ≤ p ≤ m, 0 ≤ q ≤ n and set d := p+q. Assume 0 ≤ d ≤ n−1.
Then,


p(m−d) d
 (−1)
p Sresd (f, g) for 0 ≤ d ≤ min{m, n − 1}
Sylp,q (A, B) =
0
for m < d < n − 1


(−1)(p+1)(m+n−1) m
f
for
m < d = n − 1.
p

12

TERESA KRICK, AGNES SZANTO, AND MARCELO VALDETTARO

Proof. The first case is direct from Corollary 3.4 for d ≤ m − 1 while for d = m,
Sylm,0 (A, B) = f = Sresm (f, g) when m < n.
The two following cases are a consequence of the definition of Sylp,q (A, B) in terms
of hA′ (x ∪ A′ ), Identity (3.5) and Remark 3.6. For the second case we observe
that hA′ = 0 and for the third one, that the polynomial fA\A′ (x1 ) · · · fA\A′ (xp+1 )
specialized into x ∪ A′ equals fA\A′ (x)R(A′ , A\A′ ). So, for d = n − 1,
Sylp,q (A, B) = (−1)(m−d)(n−q)

hA′ (x ∪ A′ )

X

R(x, A\A′ )R(A′ , A\A′ )

A′ ⊂A,|A′ |=p

= (−1)(m−d)(n−q)

R(x, A′ )
R(A′ , A\A′ )

X

A′ ⊂A,|A′ |=p

X

= (−1)(m+n−1)(p+1)

A′ ⊂A,|A′ |=p

R(x, A′ )
R(A′ , A\A′ )
 
(p+1)(m+n−1) m
f (x).
f (x) = (−1)
p


3.2. The case max{m, n} ≤ d ≤ m + n.
In the previous section we concluded the case 0 ≤ d ≤ n − 1 and m arbitrary. By
the symmetry mentioned in Identity (3), this also concludes the case 0 ≤ d ≤ m − 1
and n arbitrary. Thus it only remains to consider the case d ≥ m and d ≥ n, i.e.
max{m, n} ≤ d ≤ m + n.
First we observe that the case d = m + n, i.e. p = m and n = q is already solved,
since Sylm,n (A, B) = Res(f, g) f g, as was mentioned in the introduction.
In the rest of this section we restrict to the case max{m, n} ≤ d ≤ m + n − 1.
We show that we can express Sylp,q (A, B) in these cases in terms of Syl0,k (A, B)
and Sylm,d−m (A, B), where k := m + n − d − 1.
Proposition 3.8. Let 0 ≤ p ≤ m, 0 ≤ q ≤ n and set d := p + q. Assume
max{m, n} ≤ d ≤ m + n − 1. Then




k
e k+1
c
Sylm,d−m (A, B),
Syl0,k (A, B) + (−1)
Sylp,q (A, B) = (−1)
m−p
n−q
where k := m + n − d − 1, c := (d − m)(n − q) + d − n and e := (d − m)(q + 1).
Proof. We rewrite, for a fixed B ′ ⊂ B, |B ′ | = q,
X

R(B ′ , A′ )R(B\B ′ , A\A′ )

A′ ⊂A
|A′ |=p

′
′
X
R(x, A′ )
′
′ R(B\B , A\A )
R(B
∪
x,
A
)
=
R(A′ , A\A′ )
R(A′ , A\A′ )
′
A ⊂A
|A′ |=p

= (−1)p(q+1)

X

R(A\A′′ , B ′ ∪ x)

A′′ ⊂A
|A′′ |=m−p

= (−1)p(q+1)

X

C ′′ ⊂B ′ ∪{x}
|C ′′ |=m−p

R(A, (B ′ ∪ x)\C ′′ )

R(B\B ′ , A′′ )
R(A\A′′ , A′′ )

R(B\B ′ , C ′′ )
,
R(C ′′ , (B ′ ∪ x)\C ′′ )

where for the last equality we used the Exchange Corollary 3.2 for B ′ ∪ {x} of size
q +1 ≥ m−p since d ≥ m−1 instead of B and X = B\B ′ of size n−q ≤ m−(m−p)

SYMMETRIC INTERPOLATION AND SYLVESTER SUMS

13

since d ≥ n. Therefore, setting ζ := (m − p)(n − q), we get

X  X

Sylp,q (A, B)(x) = (−1)ζ+pq

B ′ ⊂B
|B ′ |=q

= (−1)ζ+p

X 

B ′ ⊂B
|B ′ |=q

R(B ′ , A′ )R(B\B ′ , A\A′ )

A′ ⊂A
|A′ |=p

X

R(A, (B ′ ∪ x)\C ′′ )

C ′′ ⊂B ′ ∪{x}
|C ′′ |=m−p

R(x, A′ )  R(x, B ′ )
R(A′ , A\A′ ) R(B ′ , B\B ′ )

 R(x, B ′ )
R(B\B ′ , C ′′ )
.
′′
′
′′
R(C , (B ∪ x)\C ) R(B ′ , B\B ′ )

Now we split this sum (without considering the sign (−1)ζ+p for now) in two sums,
according whether x ∈ C ′′ or x ∈
/ C ′′ . The first sum S1 , when x ∈ C ′′ , equals

S1 =

X

R(A, B ′ \C ′ )

B ′ ⊂B,|B ′ |=q
C ′ ⊂B ′ ,|C ′ |=m−p−1

X

= (−1)n−q+(n−q)q

R(B\B ′ , C ′ ∪ x) R(x, B ′ )
R(C ′ ∪ x, B ′ \C ′ ) R(B ′ , B\B ′ )
R(A, B ′ \C ′ )

B ′ ⊂B,|B ′ |=q
C ′ ⊂B ′ ,|C ′ |=m−p−1

= (−1)n(q+1)

X

R(x, (B\B ′ ) ∪ C ′ )
R((B\B ′ ) ∪ C ′ , B ′ \C ′ )

R(A, B\((B\B ′ ) ∪ C ′ )

B ′ ⊂B,|B ′ |=q
C ′ ⊂B ′ ,|C ′ |=m−p−1

R(x, (B\B ′ ) ∪ C ′ )
.
R((B\B ′ ) ∪ C ′ , B\((B\B ′ ) ∪ C ′ ))

Finally, replacing the summation over B ′ by a sum over D = (B\B ′ ) ∪ C ′ ⊂ B,
where |D| = n − q + m − p − 1 = m + n − d − 1 = k (observe that 0 ≤ k ≤
min{m − 1, n − 1} since max{m, n} ≤ d ≤ m + n − 1), we get

X

S1 = (−1)n(q+1)

D⊂B,|D|=k
C ′ ⊂D,|C ′ |=m−p−1

R(A, B\D)

R(x, D)
R(D, B\D)




X
R(x, D)
k
R(A, B\D)
= (−1)
m−p−1
R(D, B\D)
D⊂B,|D|=k


k
Syl0,k (A, B)(x).
= (−1)n(q+1)
n−q
n(q+1)

Let S2 denote the second sum (without the sign (−1)ζ+p for now), when x ∈
/ C ′′ :

14

TERESA KRICK, AGNES SZANTO, AND MARCELO VALDETTARO

S2 =

X

R(A, (B ′ ∪ x)\C ′′ )

B ′ ⊂B,|B ′ |=q
C ′′ ⊂B ′ ,|C ′′ |=m−p

= (−1)ε f (x)

R(B\B ′ , C ′′ )
R(x, B ′ )
R(C ′′ , (B ′ ∪ x)\C ′′ ) R(B ′ , B\B ′ )

R(A, B ′ \C ′′ )

X

R(A, B\((B\B ′ ) ∪ C ′′ ))

X

R(A, B\D)

B ′ ⊂B,|B ′ |=q
C ′′ ⊂B ′ ,|C ′′ |=m−p

= (−1)ε f (x)

R(x, B ′ \C ′′ )
∪ C ′′ )

X

R(B ′ \C ′′ , (B\B ′ )

B ′ ⊂B,|B ′ |=q
C ′′ ⊂B ′ ,|C ′′ |=m−p

= (−1)ε f (x)

D⊂B,|D|=k+1
C ′′ ⊂D,|C ′′ |=m−p

R(x, B\((B\B ′ ) ∪ C ′′ ))
R(B\((B\B ′ ) ∪ C ′′ ), (B\B ′ ) ∪ C ′′ )

R(x, B\D)
R(B\D, D)




X
R(x, B\D)
k+1
R(A, B\D)
f (x)
= (−1)
m−p
R(B\D, D)
D⊂B,|D|=k+1


X
R(x, D′ )
k+1
R(A, D′ )
= (−1)ε
f (x)
R(D′ , B\D′ ))
m−p
D′ ⊂B,|D′ |=d−m


ε k+1
Sylm,d−m (A, B),
= (−1)
m−p
ε

where ε := m + m − p + (m − p)(n − q) + (m − p)(q + p − m) ≡ m + n(m − p)
(mod 2), and D = (B\B ′ ) ∪ C ′′ with |D| = m + n − d − 1 + 1 = k + 1 and D′ = B\D
with |D′ | = n − (k + 1) = d − m, by the definition of Sylm,d−m .
Finally we add up the signs
c : = ζ + p + n(q + 1) ≡ (d − m)(n − q) + d − n (mod 2)
e : = ζ + p + ε = (m − p)(n − q) + m + n(m − p) ≡ (d − m)(q + 1) (mod 2)
to get the expression in the claim.



We end up considering the only remaining case, Sylm,d−m (A, B) for max{m, n} ≤
d ≤ m + n − 1. Remember that
X
R(x, A) R(x, B ′ )
R(A, B ′ )
Sylm,d−m (A, B)(x) =
R(B ′ , B\B ′ )
′
′
B ⊂B,|B |=d−m

= f (x)

X

R(A, B ′ )

B ′ ⊂B,|B ′ |=d−m

R(x, B ′ )
,
R(B ′ , B\B ′ )

which is a polynomial of degree bounded by m + (d − m) = d.
Since max{m, n} ≤ d ≤ m+n−1, k := m+n−d−1 satisfies k ≤ min{m−1, n−1}.
Thus, for these values of k we have the Bezout Identity (2)
Sresk (f, g) = Fk (f, g)f + Gk (f, g)g.
Here Fk (f, g) is a polynomial of degree bounded by n − k − 1 = d − m.
Proposition 3.9. Let max{m, n} ≤ d ≤ m + n − 1 and set k := m + n − d − 1.
Then
Sylm,d−m (A, B) = (−1)(d−m)n+m+n−1 Fk (f, g) f.
Proof. Since Sylm,d−m (A, B) and Fk (f, g) f are both polynomials of degree bounded
by d ≤ m + n − 1, it suffices to show the equality by interpolating them on the

SYMMETRIC INTERPOLATION AND SYLVESTER SUMS

15

indeterminates of A ∪ B. It is clear that they both vanish –thus coincide– on any
α ∈ A. So it remains to evaluate both polynomials on β ∈ B. We have
X

Sylm,d−m (A, B)(β) = f (β)

R(A, B ′ )

B ′ ⊂B,|B ′ |=d−m,β ∈B
/ ′

X

= f (β)

R(A, B ′ )

B ′ ⊂B\{β},|B ′ |=d−m

X

= (−1)d−m f (β)

B ′ ⊂B\{β},|B ′ |=d−m

R(β, B ′ )
R(B ′ , B\B ′ )

R(β, B ′ )
R(B ′ , β)R(B ′ , B\(β ∪ B ′ ))
R(A, B ′ )
.
∪ B ′ ))

R(B ′ , B\(β

On the other hand, since g(β) = 0,
(Fk (f, g) f )(β) = (Fk (f, g) f + Gk (f, g) g)(β) = Sresk (f, g)(β) = Syl0,k (A, B)(β)
by Proposition 2.10. Therefore we need to compute Syl0,k (A, B)(β). But
Syl0,k (A, B)(β) =

X

R(β, D)
R(D, B\D)

R(A, B\D)

D⊂B,|D|=k

=

X

R(A, β)R(A, B\(β ∪ D))

D⊂B\{β},|D|=k

X

= (−1)m−k f (β)

D⊂B\{β},|D|=k

R(A, B\(β ∪ D))
R(D, B\(β ∪ D))

X

= (−1)m−k f (β)

B ′ ⊂B\{β},|B ′ |=d−m

R(A, B ′ )
R(B\(β ∪ B ′ ), B ′ )

X

= (−1)m−k+k(d−m) f (β)

R(β, D)
R(D, β)R(D, B\(β ∪ D))

B ′ ⊂B\{β},|B ′ |=d−m

R(A, B ′ )
,
R(B ′ , B\(β ∪ B ′ ))

setting B ′ := B\(β ∪ D).
Therefore Sylm,m−d (A, B)(β) = (−1)m−k+(k+1)(d−m) Syl0,k (A, B)(β). The statement follows from m − k + (k + 1)(d − m) ≡ (d − m)n + m + n − 1 (mod 2). 
The previous proposition allows to recover expressions in roots for the polynomials Fk (f, g) and Gk (f, g) appearing in Bezout Identity (2). Note that these
identities already appeared in [Sylvester 1853, Art. 29], and more recently in
[Krick & Szanto 2012, D’Andrea et al. 2015].
Corollary 3.10. Let 0 ≤ k ≤ min{m − 1, n − 1}. Then
Fk (f, g) = (−1)m−k

X

R(A, B\B ′ )

B ′ ⊂B,|B ′ |=k+1

Gk (f, g) = (−1)m−k+1

X

A′ ⊂A,|A′ |=k+1

R(x, B\B ′ )
R(B ′ , B\B ′ )

R(A\A′ , B)

R(x, A\A′ )
.
R(A\A′ , A′ )

16

TERESA KRICK, AGNES SZANTO, AND MARCELO VALDETTARO

Proof. The identity for Fk (f, g) is simply obtained by comparing Sylm,d−m (A, B)
and Fk (f, g) f and simplifying f in both sides:
X

Fk (f, g) = (−1)(d−m)n+m+n−1

R(A, B ′ )

B ′ ⊂B,|B ′ |=d−m

X

= (−1)d−n+1

R(A, B ′ )

B ′ ⊂B,|B ′ |=d−m

X

= (−1)m−k

R(A, B\D)

D⊂B,|D|=k+1

R(x, B ′ )
R(B ′ , B\B ′ )

R(x, B ′ )
R(B\B ′ , B ′ )

R(x, B\D)
.
R(D, B\D)

On the other hand, we have that
Gk (f, g) = (−1)(m−k)(n−k) Fk (g, f )
which implies
Gk (f, g) = (−1)(m−k+1)(n−k)

X

R(B, A\A′ )

A′ ⊂A,|A′ |=k+1

= (−1)m−k+1

X

R(A\A′ , B)

A′ ⊂A,|A′ |=k+1

R(x, A\A′ )
R(A′ , A\A′ )

R(x, A\A′ )
.
R(A\A′ , A′ )


Propositions 3.8, 2.10 and 3.9 then imply
Corollary 3.11. Let 0 ≤ p ≤ m, 0 ≤ q ≤ n and set d := p + q. Assume
max{m, n} ≤ d ≤ m + n − 1. Then



 k 
k+1
Sresk (f, g) −
Fk f ,
Sylp,q (A, B) = (−1)(d−m)(n−q)+d−n
n−q
m−p
where k := m + n − d − 1.
Proof. We have



k+1
k
Sylm,d−m (A, B)
Syl0,k (A, B) + (−1)e
m−p
n−q




k+1
k
Fk (f, g) f,
Sresk (f, g) + (−1)e (−1)(d−m)n+m+n−1
= (−1)c
m−p
n−q

Sylp,q (A, B) = (−1)c



where c := (d − m)(n − q) + d − n and e := (d − m)(q + 1). The statement follows
from e + (d − m)n + m + n ≡ (d − m)(n − q) + d − n (mod 2).

The following proposition is another application of the Exchange Lemma 3.1,
and gives simple identities for the polynomials Fk and Gk in the Bezout Identity
(2) in terms of the roots, which enable us to make a further connection with Schur
polynomials.
Proposition 3.12. Let 0 ≤ k ≤ min{m − 1, n − 1}. Then
Fk

= (−1)k(m−k)

X

R((A ∪ {x})\C ′ , B)
,
R(C ′ , (A ∪ {x})\C ′ )

X

R((B ∪ {x})\D′ , A)
.
R(D′ , (B ∪ {x})\D′ )

C ′ ⊂A∪{x},|C ′ |=k+1

Gk

= (−1)m(n−k)

D′ ⊂B∪{x},|D′ |=k+1

SYMMETRIC INTERPOLATION AND SYLVESTER SUMS

17

Proof. These identities are also an immediate consequence of Exchange Corollary
3.2, applied to r = 0 variables. We set C := A ∪ {x}, D := B ∪ {x}.
X
R(C, B\B ′ )
Fk (f, g) = (−1)m−k
R(B ′ , B\B ′ )
′
′
B ⊂B,|B |=k+1

= (−1)(m−k)(n−k)

X

R(B\B ′ , C)
R(B\B ′ , B ′ )

X

R(B, C\C ′ )
R(C ′ , C\C ′ )

B ′ ⊂B,|B ′ |=k+1

= (−1)(m−k)(n−k)

C ′ ⊂C,|C ′ |=k+1

X

= (−1)k(m−k)

C ′ ⊂C,|C ′ |=k+1
(m−k)(n−k)

Gk (f, g) = (−1)

= (−1)m(n−k)

Fk (g, f )
X

D′ ⊂D,|D′ |=k+1

R(C\C ′ , B)
,
R(C ′ , C\C ′ )

R(D\D′ , A)
.
R(D′ , D\D′ )


As a corollary, we can express Fk (f, g) and Gk (f, g) as symmetric polynomials
in the variables A ∪ {x} and B ∪ {x}, respectively.
Corollary 3.13. Let 0 ≤ k ≤ min{m − 1, n − 1}. Then we have the following
expressions for Fk (f, g) and Gk (f, g) as symmetric polynomials in A ∪ {x} and
B ∪ {x}, respectively:
m+1

det

g(α1 )α1m−k−1
..
.
g(α1 )
αk1
..
.
1

Fk (f, g) = (−1)m−k

...
...
...
...

m−k−1
g(αm )αm
..
.
g(αm )
αkm
..
.
1

g(x)xm−k−1
m−k

g(x)
xk
k+1

1
.

det(V (A ∪ {x}))

and
n+1

det

Gk (f, g) = (−1)(m−k−1)(n−k)

f (β1 )β1n−k−1
..
.
f (β1 )
β1k
..
.
1

...
...
...
...

f (βn )βnn−k−1
..
.
f (βn )
βnk
..
.
1

f (x)xn−k−1
n−k

f (x)
xk
k+1

1

det(V (B ∪ {x}))

Proof. We prove the claim for Fk (f, g), the claim for Gk (f, g) follows from Gk (f, g) =
(−1)(m−k)(n−k) Fk (g, f ).
First we verify that the expression in the right-hand side is a polynomial: the
denominator divides the numerator since making αi = αj or αi = x yields the vanishing of the numerator. It is symmetric in A∪{x} because both the numerator and
the denominator are alternate. We set C := A ∪ {x}. We expand the determinant

,

18

TERESA KRICK, AGNES SZANTO, AND MARCELO VALDETTARO

in the numerator of the right-hand side by the first m − k rows, and get that the
ratio of determinants equals
Y
X
1
sg(C ′′ , C)V (C\C ′′ )V (C ′′ )
g(C ′′ )
V (C) ′′
c∈C ′′
C ⊂C,|C ′′ |=m−k
Q
′′
X
c∈C ′′ g(C )
=
R(C ′′ , C\C ′′ )
′′
′′
C ⊂C,|C |=m−k

=

X

C ′ ⊂C,|C ′ |=k+1

R(C\C ′ , B)
= (−1)m−k Fk (f, g),
R(C\C ′ , C ′ )

using for the first equality that
det(V (C)) = sg(C ′′ , C) det(V (C ′′ )) det(V (C\C ′′ ))R(C ′′ , C\C ′′ ),
where sg(C ′′ , C) is the sign needed to bring the columns of C ′′ into {1, . . . , m −
k}.

We close the paper by pointing to a simple connection of the previous corollary
to Schur polynomials. Recall that the Schur polynomial sλ (X) corresponding to an
ℓ-tuple of indeterminates X = (x1 , . . . , xℓ ) and a partition λ = (λ1 , . . . , λℓ ) ∈ Zℓ≥0 ,
where λ1 ≥ λ2 ≥ · · · ≥ λℓ ≥ 0, is defined as
ℓ

x1λ1 +ℓ−1
x1λ2 +ℓ−2
..
det
.

...
...

xℓλ1 +ℓ−1
xℓλ2 +ℓ−2
..
.

λ

...
...

xℓ ℓ−1
xλℓ ℓ

+1

x1 ℓ−1
xλ1 ℓ
sλ (X) :=

λ

ℓ

+1

,

det(V (X))

or equivalently, it is the determinant of the submatrix of the Vandermonde matrix
Vλ1 +ℓ (X) corresponding to the rows indexed by the exponents λ1 + ℓ − 1, λ2 + ℓ −
2, . . . , λℓ , divided by the usual Vandermonde determinant det(V (X)).
To see the connection between Corollary 3.13 and Schur polynomials, assume
first that g = xn . Then we have
m+1

det

Fk (f, xn ) = (−1)m−k

αn+m−k−1
1
..
.

...

αn+m−k−1
m
..
.

xn+m−k−1

αn1
αk1
..
.

...
...

αnm
αkm
..
.

xn
xk

1

...

1

1

det(V (A ∪ {x}))

m−k

k+1

.

Thus, by definition, we immediately get that
Fk (f, xn ) = (−1)m−k sλ (A ∪ {x}),
where λ := (n − k − 1, . . . , n − k − 1, 0, . . . , 0) = ((n − k − 1)m−k ; 0k+1 ) ∈ Zm+1
≥0 .
Similar expressions can be obtained for Gk (xm , g) in terms of the Schur polynomial
on B ∪ {x} with respect to the partition ((m − k − 1)n−k ; 0k+1 ).

SYMMETRIC INTERPOLATION AND SYLVESTER SUMS

19

Pn
For general g = i=0 gi xi we can use the following matrix identity, together with
the Cauchy-Binet formula, to get an expression for Fk (f, g) in terms of Schur polynomials on A ∪ {x}:
m+1

g(α1 )α1m−k−1
..
.
g(α1 )
αk1
..
.
1

...
...
...
...

m−k−1
g(αm )αm
..
.
g(αm )
αkm
..
.
1

g(x)xm−k−1
m−k

g(x)
xk

=
k+1

1

m+n−k

gn
m−k

...
..
.

g0
..

gn

=
k+1

.
...

0(k+1)×(m+n−1)

g0

· Vm+n−k (A ∪ {x}).

Idk+1

Note that the above expressions using Schur polynomials on A ∪ {x} are related
to the expressions given in [Lascoux, page 3], where the k = m−1 case is considered.
In the k = m − 1 case, the Lagrange operator defined in [Lascoux, page 3] is the
map LA : g 7→ Fm−1 (f, g), using our notation. For general k, a special case of the
Sylvester operator defined in [Lascoux, page 16] is the map g(x1 ) · · · g(xm−k ) 7→
Fk (f, g).
Acknowledgements: Agnes Szanto and Teresa Krick thank the Simons Institute
for the Theory of Computing, for the Fall’14 program “Algorithms and Complexity
in Algebraic Geometry” where this work was started. We are also grateful to Carlos
D’Andrea for the many useful discussions we had with him, to Giorgio Ottaviani
for a great conversation on symmetric polynomials which improved the proof of
Lemma 2.2, and to Ricky Ini Liu who helped us understanding the connections
between Schur polynomials and Proposition 3.12.
References
[Chen & Louck 1996] Chen, W.Y.C., Louck, J.D. Interpolation for symmetric functions. Adv.
Math. 117:147–156.
[D’Andrea et al. 2007] D’Andrea, C., Hong, H., Krick, T., Szanto, A. An elementary proof of
Sylvester’s double sums for subresultants. J. Symbolic Comput. 42:290–297.
[D’Andrea et al. 2009] D’Andrea, C., Hong, H., Krick, T., Szanto, A. Sylvester’s double sums:
the general case. J. Symbolic Comput. 44:1164–1175.
[D’Andrea et al. 2015] D’Andrea, C., Krick, T., Szanto, A. Subresultants, Sylvester sums and the
rational interpolation problem. J. Symb. Comput. 68:72–83.
[Krick & Szanto 2012] Krick, T., Szanto, A. Sylvester’s double sums: an inductive proof of the
general case. J. Symbolic Comput. 47:942–953.
[Lascoux 2003] Lascoux, A. Symmetric functions and combinatorial operators on polynomials.
CBMS Regional Conference Series in Mathematics, 99. Published for the Conference
Board of the Mathematical Sciences, Washington, DC; by the American Mathematical
Society, Providence, RI, 2003.
[Lascoux] Lascoux,
A. Notes on Interpolation in one and several variables.
http://igm.univ-mlv.fr/∼al/ARTICLES/interp.dvi.gz
[Lascoux and Pragasz 2003] Lascoux, A., Pragacz, P. Double Sylvester sums for subresultants
and multi-Schur functions. J. Symbolic Comput. 35:689–710.

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TERESA KRICK, AGNES SZANTO, AND MARCELO VALDETTARO

[Roy & Szpirglas 2011] Roy, M-F., Szpirglas, A. Sylvester double sums and subresultants. J. Symbolic Comput. 46:385–395.
[Sylvester 1853] Sylvester, J.J. On a theory of syzygetic relations of two rational integral functions, comprising an application to the theory of Sturm’s function and that of the
greatest algebraical common measure. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Part III (1853), 407–548. Appears also in Collected Mathematical
Papers of James Joseph Sylvester, Vol. 1, Chelsea Publishing Co. (1973) 429–586.
Departamento de Matemática, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales and IMAS,
CONICET, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina
E-mail address: krick@dm.uba.ar
URL: http://mate.dm.uba.ar/~ krick
Department of Mathematics, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695
USA
E-mail address: aszanto@ncsu.edu
URL: www4.ncsu.edu/~ aszanto
Departamento de Matemática, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina
E-mail address: mvaldettaro@gmail.com

