A Positive-Coefficient Counterexample to the Weighted Forsgård–Shapiro Parity Bound
Manuscript 30 September 2026 · Online 30 September 2026
Abstract
Forsgård and Shapiro proposed bounding the number of real zeros of a positive-coefficient polynomial by the parity changes among all indices at which (k+1)a_k^2 - k a_(k-1)a_(k+1) is positive. We give a counterexample with positive rational coefficients, parity count one, and at least three distinct negative real zeros. An even-degree shift of a degree-77 reciprocal-block seed makes the undesired weighted local quantities negative. A sufficiently small, strictly log-convex factorial prefix fills every missing coefficient without introducing a parity change or destroying the three roots. The explicit witness has degree 1,000,077; no optimal-degree claim is made. Its coefficients have a compact exact formula.
Record
- Affiliation
- Mercury Software GmbH
- Contact
- [email protected] · GitHub
- Result
- Complete counterexample
- Categories
- math.CA · math.CV
- Manuscript
- 30 September 2026
- Online release
- 30 September 2026
- Version
- 1.0
- License
- Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
Files and verification
The PDF is the canonical reading copy. The source archive contains the LaTeX manuscript, bibliography, reproducibility material, and audit documents without build artefacts.
Citation
Alper Ferudun, “A Positive-Coefficient Counterexample to the Weighted Forsgård–Shapiro Parity Bound,” EulerSolve Research Papers, AMR-021-0014, 2026. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23051793.
BibTeX
@misc{Ferudun2026AMR0210014,
author = {Ferudun, Alper},
title = {A Positive-Coefficient Counterexample to the Weighted Forsgård–Shapiro Parity Bound},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {EulerSolve Research Papers},
url = {https://eulersolve.org/papers/amr-021-0014/},
doi = {10.5281/zenodo.23051793},
note = {AMR-021-0014; unrefereed preprint}
}