Applying techniques similar to Combinatorial Nullstellensatz we prove a lower estimate of |f(A,B)| for finite subsets A, B of a field, and a polynomial f(x,y) of the form f(x,y) = g(x) + yh(x), where the degree of g is greater than that of h.
We consider a rational function which is ‘lacunary’ in the sense that it can be expressed as the ratio of two polynomials (not necessarily coprime) having each at most a given number of terms. Then we look at the possible decompositions , where are rational functions of degree larger than 1. We prove that, apart from certain exceptional cases which we completely describe, the degree of is bounded only in terms of (and we provide explicit bounds). This supports and quantifies the intuitive...