Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Li, Jiyou, Zhang, Zhiyao
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.03548
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866914302890344448
author Li, Jiyou
Zhang, Zhiyao
author_facet Li, Jiyou
Zhang, Zhiyao
contents Let $\mathbb{F}_{q}$ be a finite field of characteristic $p$, and let $f \in \mathbb{F}_{q}[x]$ be a polynomial of degree $d > 0$. Denote the image set of this polynomial as $V_{f}=\{f(α)\midα\in\mathbb{F}_{q}\}$ and denote the cardinality of this set as $N_{f}$. A much sharper bound for $N_{f}$ is established in this paper. In particular, for any $p\neq 2, 3$, and for nearly every generic quartic polynomial $f \in \mathbb{F}_{q}[x]$, we obtain $$\lvert N_f - \frac{5}{8} q \rvert \leq \frac{1}{2}\sqrt{q} + \frac{15}{4},$$ which holds as a simple corollary of the main result.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2601_03548
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Improving bounds for value sets of polynomials over finite fields
Li, Jiyou
Zhang, Zhiyao
Number Theory
11T06, 14H05
Let $\mathbb{F}_{q}$ be a finite field of characteristic $p$, and let $f \in \mathbb{F}_{q}[x]$ be a polynomial of degree $d > 0$. Denote the image set of this polynomial as $V_{f}=\{f(α)\midα\in\mathbb{F}_{q}\}$ and denote the cardinality of this set as $N_{f}$. A much sharper bound for $N_{f}$ is established in this paper. In particular, for any $p\neq 2, 3$, and for nearly every generic quartic polynomial $f \in \mathbb{F}_{q}[x]$, we obtain $$\lvert N_f - \frac{5}{8} q \rvert \leq \frac{1}{2}\sqrt{q} + \frac{15}{4},$$ which holds as a simple corollary of the main result.
title Improving bounds for value sets of polynomials over finite fields
topic Number Theory
11T06, 14H05
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.03548