TITLE: What is rational integral function
QUESTION [6 upvotes]: The author of the book I am referring assumes two rational integral functions as shown below 
$p_0\cdot x^n+p_1\cdot x^{(n-1)}+p_2\cdot x^{(n-2)}+...+p_n$
$q_0\cdot x^n+q_1\cdot x^{(n-1)}+q_2\cdot x^{(n-2)}+...+q_n$
Is this term old and he means real functions ?; if not, what is meant by rational integral function ?, rational function, integral function ?

REPLY [4 votes]: I think this would be helpful:




Reference: Handbook of Mathematics and Computational Science
By John W. Harris, Horst Stöcker.