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the discriminant of a polynomial
discriminant(F:POLY):POLY
discriminant(F:POLY, X:INDET):POLY
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This function computes the discriminant of a polynomial F (with
respect to a given indeterminate X, if the polynomial is multivariate).
If the polynomial is univariate then there is no need to specify
which indeterminate to use.
The discriminant is defined as
(-1)^(N*(N-1)/2)*Det(M)/M[1,1]
where M := Sylvester(F, Der(F,X), X)
and N := Deg(F, X).
/**/ Use R ::= QQ[x,y];
/**/ discriminant(x^2+3*y^2, x);
-12*y^2
/**/ discriminant(x^2+3*y^2, y);
-12*x^2
/**/ discriminant((x+1)^20+2);
54975581388800000000000000000000
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