A direct proof of the weight retaining property of polynomials over a finite field

A result of J.L. Massey et al. (see ibid., vol.IT-19, no.1, p.101-110, 1973) concerning weights of polynomials over GF(p/sup r/) is generalized from p=2 to general prime p. This generalization makes it possible to directly establish several theorems about polynomial weights in a way that no longer relies on results from coding theory.<
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