[Fastlibnt-devel] _Zpoly_mpn_equal semantics

[David H. <dmh...@ma...>]

Currently _Zpoly_mpn_equal() returns 0 if the polys have different 
lengths.

This disagrees with the semantics of _Zpoly_equal(). That function 
currently treats the polynomials as being infinitely zero extended.

I guess it depends whether you are thinking of these objects more like 
polynomials or more like vectors. The polynomial 1 + 2x + 0*x^2 is 
equal to the polynomial 1 + 2x, but the vectors [1, 2, 0] and [1, 2] 
are not equal.

Another way to put it is: is the polynomial 0 + 0x + 0x^2 the zero 
polynomial?

I'm not sure which is better. The only thing I'm sure about is that we 
should pick one, and make both polynomial types work the same way.

david