Explicit expressions for Sturm sequences

Abstract

Sturm's theorem was announced in 1829 and various proofs were given soon after (see [2], p. 363 for details). It is given in various textbooks on algebra, e.g. in [1], pp. 448–453, where its application to finding the number and location of the real zeros of a polynomial is explained. It has been applied, in conjunction with Givens's method, to finding the eigenvalues of a matrix (see, e.g. [3], p. 494), and has been used recently in a neat computational form by Takeuchi [4] for investigating algebraic fields.