Recent content by akalin

So you're correct in that the conjecture as stated is false -- if at any point the paths are such that two roots coincide, the discriminant touches the origin, and so the winding number isn't well-defined. However, once you remove that case, the conjecture becomes true. (Unless, I've done...

Hi, blog post author here! (I saw some traffic from here and figured it'd be an interesting discussion.) This is an interesting question! I don't know of any proof in a textbook, but it seems that with a little thought (and mild restrictions on the path) it can be proven. Your intuition is on...