Survey on counting special types of polynomials

Most integers are composite and most univariate polynomials over a finite field are reducible. The Prime Number Theorem and a classical result of Gau{\ss} count the remaining ones, approximately and exactly. For polynomials in two or more variables, the situation changes dramatically. Most multivariate polynomials are irreducible. This survey presents counting results for some special classes of multivariate polynomials over a finite field, namely the the reducible ones, the s-powerful ones (divisible by the s-th power of a nonconstant polynomial), the relatively irreducible ones (irreducible but reducible over an extension field), the decomposable ones, and also for reducible space curves. These come as exact formulas and as approximations with relative errors that essentially decrease exponentially in the input size. Furthermore, a univariate polynomial f is decomposable if f = g o h for some nonlinear polynomials g and h. It is intuitively clear that the decomposable polynomials form a small minority among all polynomials. The tame case, where the characteristic p of Fq does not divide n = deg f, is fairly well-understood, and we obtain closely matching upper and lower bounds on the number of decomposable polynomials. In the wild case, where p does divide n, the bounds are less satisfactory, in particular when p is the smallest prime divisor of n and divides n exactly twice. The crux of the matter is to count the number of collisions, where essentially different (g, h) yield the same f. We present a classification of all collisions at degree n = p^2 which yields an exact count of those decomposable polynomials.Comment: to appear in Jaime Gutierrez, Josef Schicho & Martin Weimann (editors), Computer Algebra and Polynomials, Lecture Notes in Computer Scienc

Tame Decompositions and Collisions

A univariate polynomial f over a field is decomposable if f = g o h = g(h) for nonlinear polynomials g and h. It is intuitively clear that the decomposable polynomials form a small minority among all polynomials over a finite field. The tame case, where the characteristic p of Fq does not divide n = deg f, is fairly well-understood, and we have reasonable bounds on the number of decomposables of degree n. Nevertheless, no exact formula is known if $n$ has more than two prime factors. In order to count the decomposables, one wants to know, under a suitable normalization, the number of collisions, where essentially different (g, h) yield the same f. In the tame case, Ritt's Second Theorem classifies all 2-collisions. We introduce a normal form for multi-collisions of decompositions of arbitrary length with exact description of the (non)uniqueness of the parameters. We obtain an efficiently computable formula for the exact number of such collisions at degree n over a finite field of characteristic coprime to p. This leads to an algorithm for the exact number of decomposable polynomials at degree n over a finite field Fq in the tame case

On Functional Decomposition of Multivariate Polynomials with Differentiation and Homogenization

In this paper, we give a theoretical analysis for the algorithms to compute functional decomposition for multivariate polynomials based on differentiation and homogenization which are proposed by Ye, Dai, Lam (1999) and Faug$\mu$ere, Perret (2006, 2008, 2009). We show that a degree proper functional decomposition for a set of randomly decomposable quartic homogenous polynomials can be computed using the algorithm with high probability. This solves a conjecture proposed by Ye, Dai, and Lam (1999). We also propose a conjecture such that the decomposition for a set of polynomials can be computed from that of its homogenization with high probability. Finally, we prove that the right decomposition factors for a set of polynomials can be computed from its right decomposition factor space. Combining these results together, we prove that the algorithm can compute a degree proper decomposition for a set of randomly decomposable quartic polynomials with probability one when the base field is of characteristic zero, and with probability close to one when the base field is a finite field with sufficiently large number under the assumption that the conjeture is correct

Indecomposable polynomials and their spectrum

We address some questions concerning indecomposable polynomials and their spectrum. How does the spectrum behave via reduction or specialization, or via a more general ring morphism? Are the indecomposability properties equivalent over a field and over its algebraic closure? How many polynomials are decomposable over a finite field?Comment: 22 page

Counting reducible, powerful, and relatively irreducible multivariate polynomials over finite fields

We present counting methods for some special classes of multivariate polynomials over a finite field, namely the reducible ones, the s-powerful ones (divisible by the s-th power of a nonconstant polynomial), and the relatively irreducible ones (irreducible but reducible over an extension field). One approach employs generating functions, another one uses a combinatorial method. They yield exact formulas and approximations with relative errors that essentially decrease exponentially in the input size.Comment: to appear in SIAM Journal on Discrete Mathematic