Minimal Degrees of Genocchi-Peano Functions: Calculus Motivated Number Theoretical Estimates

Abstract

A rational function of the form \(\frac{x_1^{\alpha_1} x_2^{\alpha_2} \cdots x_n^{\alpha_n}}{x_1^{\beta_1} + x_2^{\beta_2}+\cdots + x_n^{\beta_n}}\) is a Genocchi-Peano example, GPE, provided it is discontinuous, but its restriction to any hyperplane is continuous. We show that the minimal degree \(D(n)\) of a GPE of \(n\)-variables equals \(2\left\lfloor \frac{e^2}{e^2-1} n \right\rfloor+2i\) for some \(i\in\{0,1,2\}\). We also investigate the minimal degree \(D_b(n)\) of a bounded GPE of \(n\)-variables and note that \(D(n)\leq D_b(n)\leq n(n+1)\). Finding better bounds for the numbers \(D_b(n)\) remains an open problem.