Sparse polynomial arithmetic

Abstract

Sparse polynomial representations are used in a number of algebraic manipulation systems, including Altran. This paper discusses the arithmetic operations with sparsely represented polynomials; we give particular attention to multiplication and division. We give new algorithms for multiplying two polynomials, with n and m terms, in time mn log m ;, these algorithms have the property that, in the usual univariate dense case, the algorithm is bounded by mn. Division algorithms are discussed which run in comparable time.