Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 November 2018
Let $P\left( z \right)$ be a polynomial of degree not exceeding $n$ and let $W\left( z \right)\,=\,\prod\nolimits_{j=1}^{n}{\left( z\,-\,{{a}_{j}} \right)}$ where $\left| {{a}_{j}} \right|\,>\,1$, $j\,=\,1,\,2,\,.\,.\,.\,,\,n$. If the rational function $r\left( z \right)\,=\,{P\left( z \right)}/{W\left( z \right)}\;$ does not vanish in $\left| z \right|\,<\,k$, then for $k\,=\,1$ it is known that
where $B\left( Z \right)\,=\,{{{W}^{*}}\left( z \right)}/{W\left( z \right)}\;$ and ${{W}^{*}}\left( z \right)\,=\,{{z}^{n}}\overline{W\left( {1}/{\overline{z}}\; \right)}$. In the paper we consider the case when $k\,>\,1$ and obtain a sharp result. We also show that
where ${{r}^{*}}\left( z \right)\,=\,B\left( z \right)\overline{r\left( {1}/{\overline{z}}\; \right)}$, and as a consquence of this result, we present a generalization of a theorem of O’Hara and Rodriguez for self-inversive polynomials. Finally, we establish a similar result when supremum is replaced by infimum for a rational function which has all its zeros in the unit circle.