Definition 4.25 (Common interlacement). We say that real rooted polynomials f, g of degree n have a common interlacement if there is a polynomial h of degree n+1 such that f and g both interlace h. In other words, if the roots of f and g are α1≤⋯αn and β1≤⋯≤βn respectively, then they have a common interlacement if and only if there are some γ0≤⋯≤γn such that

γ0≤α1,β1≤γ1≤α2,β2≤γ2≤⋯≤γn−1≤αn,βn≤γn.