Four lectures on secant varieties

This paper is based on the first author's lectures at the 2012 University of Regina Workshop "Connections Between Algebra and Geometry". Its aim is to provide an introduction to the theory of higher secant varieties and their applications. Several references and solved exercises are also included.Comment: Lectures notes to appear in PROMS (Springer Proceedings in Mathematics & Statistics), Springer/Birkhause

How to Integrate a Polynomial over a Simplex

This paper settles the computational complexity of the problem of integrating a polynomial function f over a rational simplex. We prove that the problem is NP-hard for arbitrary polynomials via a generalization of a theorem of Motzkin and Straus. On the other hand, if the polynomial depends only on a fixed number of variables, while its degree and the dimension of the simplex are allowed to vary, we prove that integration can be done in polynomial time. As a consequence, for polynomials of fixed total degree, there is a polynomial time algorithm as well. We conclude the article with extensions to other polytopes, discussion of other available methods and experimental results.Comment: Tables added with new experimental results. References adde

A new formula for the determinant of 4×44 \times 4 matrices

In this paper, we present a new formula for the determinant of a $4 \times 4$ matrix. We approach via the sparse optimization problem and derive the formula through the Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator (LASSO). Our formula has the potential to advance understanding of the algebraic structure of determinants, such as an upper bound of the tensor rank, various notions to measure complexity, and effective computational tools in exterior algebras. We also address several numerical experiments which compare our formula with built-in functions in a computer-algebra system.Comment: 11 pages, 1 figur

On real Waring decompositions of real binary forms

The Waring Problem over polynomial rings asks how to decompose a homogeneous polynomial $p$ of degree $d$ as a finite sum of $d$-{th} powers of linear forms. In this work we give an algorithm to obtain a real Waring decomposition of any given real binary form $p$ of length at most its degree. In fact, we construct a semialgebraic family of Waring decompositions for $p$. Some examples are shown to highlight the difference between the real and the complex case.Comment: 21 pages; typos correcte

Software for Exact Integration of Polynomials over Polyhedra

We are interested in the fast computation of the exact value of integrals of polynomial functions over convex polyhedra. We present speed ups and extensions of the algorithms presented in previous work. We present the new software implementation and provide benchmark computations. The computation of integrals of polynomials over polyhedral regions has many applications; here we demonstrate our algorithmic tools solving a challenge from combinatorial voting theory.Comment: Major updat