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I have the following quartic equation $$\omega_4 x^4+\omega_3 x^3+\omega_2 x^2+\omega_1 x+\omega_0=0$$ where $\omega_i$ depend on several real parameters. I'm not interested in searching its roots, but I would like to respond to the following point:

  1. What are the bounds (lower and upper) for the absolute value of all the roots (real or complex)?
Mark
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2 Answers2

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There is some radius $r$ such that when $|x|>r,$

$$|\omega_4 x^4| > |\omega_3 x^3| + |\omega_2 x^2| + |\omega_1 x| + |\omega_0| > |\omega_3 x^3 + \omega_2 x^2 + \omega_1 x + \omega_0| $$

Rouche's theorem says that when this is the case, all of the roots will be within a disk of radius $r.$

Doug M
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  • Thank you. What is $z$? If all the roots are real, this means that they will be in the range $[-x,x]$? – Mark Aug 17 '18 at 07:09
  • This is a proof of complex analysis where polynomials are usually expressed in terms of $z.$ But, as I have not introduced z, I will change it. – Doug M Aug 17 '18 at 16:39
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The following relationships answer the question and do not need much explanation, just make the replacements to find the relevant limits. These are quite close approaches to the values ​​of the roots x and y.

$y^4+By^3+Gy^2+Dy+E=0, \{B,G,D,E \} \in \mathbb{R}$

$c=G-3B^2/8$

$d=D+(B^3-4BG)/8$

$e=E-3B^4/256+(GB^2-4BD)/16$

$x^4+cx^2+dx+e=0$

$R=\sqrt{\frac{d^2}{4e}-c}$

$r=\sqrt{- \frac{d^2}{4e}-c}$

$p=\sqrt{\frac{d^2}{4|e|}-c}$

$x \in \mathbb{R}, e>0 \Rightarrow |x| \leq R$

$x \in \mathbb{R}, e<0 \Rightarrow |x| \leq r \sqrt{27/34}$

$x \in \mathbb{C} \Rightarrow |\Re (x)| \leq p$

$y \in \mathbb{R}, e>0 \Rightarrow -B/4-R \leq |y| \leq -B/4+R$

$y \in \mathbb{R}, e<0 \Rightarrow -B/4-r \sqrt{27/34} \leq |y| \leq -B/4+r \sqrt{27/34}$

$y \in \mathbb{C} \Rightarrow -B/4-p \leq | \Re (y)| \leq -B/4+p$

The above relations are based on the geometric interpretation of the quartic equation. I quote two relevant images:

model of quartic equation (1) model of quartic equation (2)

I add some details. To solve an equation of the form

$f(y)=y^4+By^3+Gy^2+Dy+E=0$

we first convert it to the form

$f(y-B/4)=(y-B/4)^4+B(y-B/4)^3+G(y-B/4)^2+D(y-B/4)+E$

$=x^4+cx^2+dx+e=0$

where the term $bx^3$ is absent because

$-b=x_1 + x_2 + x_3 + x_4 = 0$

From a geometric point of view, the graphs of the functions $f(y)$ and $f(y-B/4)$ are exactly the same, with the difference that the second of them has been moved parallel to the x-axis and has been installed at the beginning of the axes.