A generalization of the argument principle

Abstract

The argument principle is one of the basic theorems from the classical complex analysis and it's crucial role in complex analysis is very nicely underlined in the book of A. F. Beardon Complex Analysis – the Argument Principle in Analysis and Topology, John Wiley and Sons, 1979. We shall generalize a result of T. Radó and P.V. Reichelderfer from Continuous Transformations in Analysis, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Göttingen, Heidelberg, 1955, p. 399, and a recent paper of P. Duren, w. Hengartner and R. S. LaugesenAmer. Math. Monthly 103(5) (1996), 411-415, showing that the argument principle is an entirely topological theorem (because it holds for continuous, open, discrete mappings in the plane) and hence this theorem belongs more to topology than to complex analysis. We also present as an application a generalization of Rouché's theorem.