Is it true that a real polynomial with all positive coefficients can only have negative roots and that any complex couples of roots also have a negative real part?
And conversely, is a polynomial with at least one negative coefficient a sign that there is a positive root, or a complex couple with positive real part?
I ask this in the context of linear systems theory where the system functions may have some negative poles in order for the system to be stable.
(The answer can certainly be formulated mathematically, no problem for me)
Answer
Dear Nicole,
The answer to your question has to do with so-called Hurwitz polynomials.
Based on this, the answer to your question should be negative.
The positive of the coefficients is a necessary but not sufficient condition for the theorem .
Below I summarize the main points from the Wikipedia page in this regard.
Philippe J. Roussel
Senior Reliability Researcher
imec
In mathematics, a Hurwitz polynomial, named after Adolf Hurwitz, is a polynomial whose coefficients are positive real numbers and whose roots(zeros) are located in the left half-plane of the complex plane or on the jω axis, that is, the real part of every root is zero or negative.[1] The term is sometimes restricted to polynomials whose roots have real parts that are strictly negative, excluding the axis (ie, a Hurwitz stable polynomial).[2][3]
A polynomial function P(s) or a complex variable s is said to be Hurwitz if the following conditions are satisfied:
- 1. P(s) is real when s is real.
- 2. The roots of P(s) have real parts which are zero or negative.
Hurwitz polynomials are important in control systems theory, because they represent the characteristic equations or stable linear systems. Whether a polynomial is Hurwitz can be determined by finding the roots, or directly from the coefficients by the Routh Hurwitz stability criterion.
For a polynomial to be Hurwitz, it is necessary but not sufficient that all of its coefficients be positive. A necessary and sufficient condition that a polynomial is Hurwitz is that it pass the Routh Hurwitz stability criterion. A given polynomial can be efficiently tested to be Hurwitz or not by using the Routh continued fraction expansion technique.
The properties of Hurwitz polynomials are:
- all the poles and zeros are in the left half plane or on its boundary, the imaginary axis.
- Any poles and zeros on the imaginary axis are simple (have a multiplicity of one).
- Any poles on the imaginary axis have real strictly positive residues, and similarly at any zeros on the imaginary axis, the function has a real strictly positive derivative.
- Over the right half plane, the minimum value of the real part of a PR function occurs on the imaginary axis (because the real part of an analytic function constitutes a harmonic function over the plane, and therefore satisfies the maximum principle).
- The polynomial should not have missing powers of s.

Answered by
eng. Philippe Roussel
Microelectronics Reliability
Kapeldreef 75 3001 Leuven
http://www.imec-int.com
.