Stable polynomial

In the context of the characteristic polynomial of a differential equation or difference equation, a polynomial is said to be stable if either:

• all its roots lie in the open left half-plane, or
• all its roots lie in the open unit disk.

The first condition provides stability for continuous-time linear systems, and the second case relates to stability of discrete-time linear systems. A polynomial with the first property is called at times a Hurwitz polynomial and with the second property a Schur polynomial. Stable polynomials arise in control theory and in mathematical theory of differential and difference equations. A linear, time-invariant system (see LTI system theory) is said to be BIBO stable if every bounded input produces bounded output. A linear system is BIBO stable if its characteristic polynomial is stable. The denominator is required to be Hurwitz stable if the system is in continuous-time and Schur stable if it is in discrete-time. In practice, stability is determined by applying any one of several stability criteria.