Newton diagram
Newton polygon
A convex polygonal line, introduced by I. Newton in 1669 (see [1]) to determine the exponents of the principal terms of algebraic functions. The process of finding successively the terms of the expansion of an algebraic function with the help of the Newton diagram is called the method of the Newton diagram. In more detail it was worked out by V. Puiseux [2] and it is sometimes called the Puiseux diagram in mathematical literature. Before Puiseux, an algebraic version of the Newton diagram was studied by J.L. Lagrange [3].
Let be a pseudo-polynomial in
, that is, let
![]() |
where
![]() |
and
are complex variables,
are complex numbers,
is a natural number,
are non-negative rational numbers,
, and
. As a rule one assumes that if
, then
, hence,
,
. A solution
of the equation
![]() | (1) |
is sought for in the form of a series
![]() | (2) |
where or, briefly,
,
as
. To determine the possible values of
and
one substitutes (2) in (1), collects terms with equal powers of
, and equates to zero the coefficients of these powers.
The process begins with the term of lowest degree. As long as the exponent is not yet determined, there is no way of telling which of the resulting terms are lowest in
. However, the terms of lowest order are among the following:
![]() | (3) |
where ranges over those values
for which
. To annihilate the terms of lowest order one has to choose
so that at least two of the exponents
,
,
coincide and the remaining ones are to be not smaller. This argument leads to Newton's diagram.
In the plane one takes a rectangular Cartesian coordinate system and plots the points ,
and
, where
ranges over the same values as in (3). Through the point
one draws the line that coincides with the
-axis and then rotates around
anti-clockwise until it falls onto one of the plotted points, say
. The tangent of the angle that the line
passing through
and
makes with the negative
-axis is one of the values
, since
, and
if
. Suppose that
is the point on
with largest
-coordinate and that
is rotated anti-clockwise around
until it falls onto another one of the plotted points, say,
with
. Let
be the line through
and
. The tangent of the angle between
and the negative
-axis gives another possible value of
. Continuing these constructions one obtains a convex polygonal line, which is called Newton's diagram.
Figure: n066520a
The value of the coefficient of is determined as follows. Let
and
be the extreme points of a segment of the Newton diagram that determines one of the possible values of
. To annihilate the terms of lowest order when (2) is substituted in (1) it is necessary and sufficient that
![]() | (4) |
where the prime in the sum denotes that summation is over those for which
. Equation (4) has
non-zero roots (including multiplicity), that is, as many as the length of the projection of the relevant segment of the Newton diagram. Hence it is clear that by the method of the Newton diagram one obtains all
values of the principal term
in (2). By the same method one determines the next term in the expansion (2), etc. As a result, all
solutions of (1) have the form (2), so-called Puiseux series (see Algebraic function). The method of the Newton diagram is also applicable to the solution of differential equations.
References
[1] | I. Newton, "The mathematical papers of I. Newton" , 1–8 , Cambridge Univ. Press (1967–1981) |
[2] | V. Puiseux, "Récherches sur les fonctions algébriques" J. Math. Pure Appl. , 15 (1850) pp. 365–480 |
[3] | J.L. Lagrange, "Solution de quelques problèmes d'astronomie sphérique par le moyen des séries" Nouv. Mém. Acad. Roy. Sci. Belles Lettres Berlin (1776) |
[4] | M.M. Vainberg, V.A. Trenogin, "Theory of branching of solutions of non-linear equations" , Noordhoff (1974) (Translated from Russian) |
[5] | , Isaac Newton 1643 - 1727; a collection of articles on the tercentenary of his birth , Moscow (1943) (In Russian) |
[6] | A.D. [A.D. Bryuno] Bruno, "Local methods in nonlinear differential equations" , Springer (1989) (Translated from Russian) |
Newton diagram. Encyclopedia of Mathematics. URL: http://encyclopediaofmath.org/index.php?title=Newton_diagram&oldid=12732