[GAP Forum] Coefficients of constant polynomials

[Alexander Hulpke]

Dear Forum,

`Anvita21' wrote:


> When I apply the function  "CoefficientsOfUnivariatePolynomial" to the
>
> unit polynomial I get the result [ 1 ], as expected:
>
>
>
> For the zero polynomial, however, it returns an empty set:

Yes. the zero polynomial is stored by an empty coefficient list, as  
there are no nonzero coefficients.

> Why isn't the result [ 0 ] ?
Because storing the zero polynomial that way would require extra  
treatment in some arithmetic routines (e.g. multiplication).

>
> Could this be a bug?
No. This is intended.

Best wishes,

     Alexander Hulpke

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