Abstract
A homogeneous polynomial \(S(x_1, \ldots, x_n)\) of degree \(r\) in \(n\) variables possesses a discriminant \(D_{n|r}(S)\) , which vanishes if and only if the system of equations \(\partial S / \partial x_i = 0\) has nontrivial solutions. We provide an explicit formula for the discriminants of symmetric (under permutations of \(x_1, \ldots, x_n\) ) homogeneous polynomials of degree \(r\) in \(n \geq r\) variables. This formula is highly effective from a computational perspective: symbolic computer calculations using this formula take seconds even for \(n \approx 20\) . We work out the cases \(r = 2\) , \(3\) , and \(4\) in detail. We also consider the case of completely antisymmetric polynomials.