We consider ineducible Goppa codes of length qm over Fq defined by polynomials of degree r, where q = pt and p, m, r are distinct primes. The number of such codes, inequivalent under coordinate permutations and field automorphisms, is determined.

A general analytic scheme for Poisson approximation to discrete distributions is studied in which the asymptotic behaviours of the generalized total variation, Fortet-Mourier (or Wasserstein), Kolmogorov and Matusita (or Hellinger) distances are explicitly characterized. Applications of this result include many number-theoretic functions and combinatorial structures. Our approach differs from most of the existing ones in the literature and is easily amended for other discrete approximations; arithmetic and combinatorial examples for Bessel approximation are also presented. A unified approach is developed for deriving uniform estimates for probability generating functions of the number of components in general decomposable combinatorial structures, with or without analytic continuation outside their circles of convergence.

Recently Bombieri and Sperber have jointly created a new construction for estimating exponential sums on quasiprojective varieties over finite fields. In this paper we apply their construction to estimate hybrid exponential sums on quasiprojective varieties over finite fields. In doing this we utilize a result of Aldolphson and Sperber concerning the degree of the L-function associated with a certain exponential sum.

For a class of functions containing polynomials over ℤm, we give an inequality relating the cardinality of the value set to the additive order of differences of elements in that set. To do this, we find some inequalities concerning the combinatorics of substrings of sequences on finite sets which are related to an interesting matrix inequality.

We study polynomials over an integral domain R which, for infinitely many prime ideals P, induce a permutation of R/P. In many cases, every polynomial with this property must be a composition of Dickson polynomials and of linear polynomials with coefficients in the quotient field of R. In order to find out which of these compositions have the required property we investigate some number theoretic aspects of composition of polynomials. The paper includes a rather elementary proof of ‘Schur's Conjecture’ and contains a quantitative version for polynomials of prime degree.

For a polynomial f(x) over a finite field Fq, denote the polynomial f(y)−f(x) by ϕf(x, y). The polynomial ϕf has frequently been used in questions on the values of f. The existence is proved here of a polynomial F over Fq of the form F = Lr, where L is an affine linearized polynomial over Fq, such that f = g(F) for some polynomial g and the part of ϕf which splits completely into linear factors over the algebraic closure of Fq is exactly φF. This illuminates an aspect of work of D. R. Hayes and Daqing Wan on the existence of permutation polynomials of even degree. Related results on value sets, including the exhibition of a class of permutation polynomials, are also mentioned.