The numerical greatest common divisor of univariate polynomials

Abstract: This paper presents a regularization theory for numerical computation of polynomial greatest common divisors and a convergence analysis, along with a detailed description of a blackbox-type algorithm. The root of the ill-posedness in conventional GCD computation is identified by its geometry where polynomials form differentiable manifolds entangled in a stratification structure. With a proper regularization, the numerical GCD is proved to be strongly well-posed. Most importantly, the numerical GCD solves the problem of finding the GCD accurately using floating point arithmetic even if the data are perturbed. A sensitivity measurement, error bounds at each computing stage, and the overall convergence are established rigorously. The computing results of selected test examples show that the algorithm and software appear to be robust and accurate.