Nearest common root of a set of polynomials: A structured singular value approach

The paper considers the problem of calculating the nearest common root of a polynomial set under perturbations in their coefficients. In particular, we seek the minimum-magnitude perturbation in the coefficients of the polynomial set such that the perturbed polynomials have a common root. It is shown that the problem is equivalent to the solution of a structured singular value (μ) problem arising in robust control for which numerous techniques are available. It is also shown that the method can be extended to the calculation of an “approximate GCD” of fixed degree by introducing the notion of the generalized structured singular value of a matrix. The work generalizes previous results by the authors involving the calculation of the “approximate GCD” of two polynomials, although the general case considered here is considerably harder and relies on a matrix-dilation approach and several preliminary transformations