Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 November 2018
We investigate whether the total character of a finite group $G$ is a polynomial in a suitable irreducible character of $G$ . When $\left( G,\,Z\left( G \right) \right)$ is a generalized Camina pair, we show that the total character is a polynomial in a faithful irreducible character of $G$ if and only if $Z\left( G \right)$ is cyclic.