Digit systems over commutative rings

Abstract

Let $\E$ be a commutative ring with identity and $P\in\E[x]$ be a polynomial. In the present paper we consider digit representations in the residue class ring $\E[x]/(P)$. In particular, we are interested in the question whether each $A\in\E[x]/(P)$ can be represented modulo $P$ in the form $e_0+e_{1}X+\cdots +e_h{X}^h$, where the $e_i\in\E[x]/(P)$ are taken from a fixed finite set of digits. This general concept generalises both canonical number systems and digit systems over finite fields. Due to the fact that we do not assume that $0$ is an element of the digit set and that $P$ need not be monic, several new phenomena occur in this context.

21 pages, 1 figure; submitted.