On the Waring Rank of Binary Forms

Abstract

The $K$-rank of a binary form $f$ in $K[x,y],K\subseteq \mathbb{C},$ is the smallest number of $d$-th powers of linear forms over $K$ of which $f$ is a $K$-linear combination. We provide lower bounds for the $\mathbb{C}$-rank (Waring rank) and for the $\mathbb{R}$-rank (real Waring rank) of binary forms depending on their factorization. We completely classify binary forms of Waring rank 3.