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The resultant turns a shared-root of a polynomial question into a calculation using only coefficients. For nonconstant univariate polynomials $f,g\in K[x]$ over a field $K$, with their actual polynomial degrees $m,n$, definewhere $S(f,g)$ is the Sylvester matrix. ThenHere $\overline{K}$ is an algebraic closure. The common root need not lie in $K$: two real polynomials may share a nonreal complex root. The subscript identifies which variable is eliminated.^[ref]

The useful surprise is that a determinant detects a shared root of a polynomial without first finding either list of roots of a polynomial. If the coefficients depend on a parameter, the resultant itself is a polynomial in that parameter. Its zeros pick out possible exceptional parameter values. Elimination theory uses this to reduce a pair of polynomial equations in two variables to a single necessary equation in one variable; eliminating a variable with a resultant gives an exact example below.

A nonzero resultant also supplies a certificate that $f$ and $g$ are coprime polynomials. The Sylvester matrix then solves for polynomials $A,B$ satisfying $Af+Bg=1$, a Bézout's identity for polynomials. Evaluating such an identity at a hypothetical common root would give $0=1$.