Proof of a conjecture on unimodality

Abstract

Let $P(x)$ be a polynomial of degree $m$, with nonnegative and non-decreasing coefficients. We settle the conjecture that for any positive real number $d$, the coefficients of $P(x+d)$ form a unimodal sequence, of which the special case $d$ being a positive integer has already been asserted in a previous work. Further, we explore the location of modes of $P(x+d)$ and present some sufficient conditions on $m$ and $d$ for which $P(x+d)$ has the unique mode $\lceil \frac{m-d}{d+1}\rceil$.

11 pages