Marden's theorem


In mathematics, Marden's theorem, named after Morris Marden but proved about 100 years earlier by Jörg Siebeck, gives a geometric relationship between the zeroes of a third-degree polynomial with complex coefficients and the zeroes of its derivative. See also geometrical properties of polynomial roots.

Statement

A cubic polynomial has three zeroes in the complex number plane, which in general form a triangle, and the Gauss–Lucas theorem states that the roots of its derivative lie within this triangle. Marden's theorem states their location within this triangle more precisely:

Additional relations between root locations and the Steiner inellipse

By the Gauss–Lucas theorem, the root of the double derivative must be the average of the two foci, which is the center point of the ellipse and the centroid of the triangle.
In the special case that the triangle is equilateral the inscribed ellipse degenerates to a circle, and the derivative of has a double root at the center of the circle. Conversely, if the derivative has a double root, then the triangle must be equilateral.

Generalizations

A more general version of the theorem, due to, applies to polynomials whose degree may be higher than three, but that have only three roots,, and. For such polynomials, the roots of the derivative may be found at the multiple roots of the given polynomial and at the foci of an ellipse whose points of tangency to the triangle divide its sides in the ratios,, and.
Another generalization is to n-gons: some n-gons have an interior ellipse that is tangent to each side at the side's midpoint. Marden's theorem still applies: the foci of this midpoint-tangent inellipse are zeroes of the derivative of the polynomial whose zeroes are the vertices of the n-gon.

History

Jörg Siebeck discovered this theorem 81 years before Marden wrote about it. However, Dan Kalman titled his American Mathematical Monthly paper "Marden's theorem" because, as he writes, "I call this Marden’s Theorem because I first read it in M. Marden’s wonderful book".
attributes what is now known as Marden's theorem to and cites nine papers that included a version of the theorem. Dan Kalman won the 2009 Lester R. Ford Award of the Mathematical Association of America for his 2008 paper in the American Mathematical Monthly describing the theorem.
A short and elementary proof of Marden’s theorem is explained in the solution of an exercise in Fritz Carlson’s book “Geometri”.