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Source. Ball–Serra, published erratum (2011), printed p. 378, PDF p. 2. The following is a complete verification of its example and of the particular inference it refutes.

Choose a field containing a∉{0,1}a\notin\{0,1\}, for example F=QF=\mathbb Q and a=2a=2. Set

S1={0,1},S2={0,a},D1={1},D2={a},f=X1X2(X1−X2).S_1=\{0,1\},\quad S_2=\{0,a\},\quad D_1=\{1\},\quad D_2=\{a\},\quad f=X_1X_2(X_1-X_2).

The polynomial vanishes at every grid point with a zero coordinate, whereas

f(1,a)=a(1−a)≠0.f(1,a)=a(1-a)\ne0.

Its nonzero grid values are therefore confined to D1×D2D_1\times D_2, with a nonzero value there. The old exponent bounds would require a monomial with both exponents between one and one, namely X1X2X_1X_2. But

f=X12X2−X1X22f=X_1^2X_2-X_1X_2^2

has no such monomial. This refutes the old corollary even after making its nonzero-grid-value hypothesis explicit.

To see the error in its proof, write

g1=X1(X1−1),g2=X2(X2−a).g_1=X_1(X_1-1),\qquad g_2=X_2(X_2-a).

The exact identity printed in the erratum is

f=g1X2−g2X1+(1−a)X1X2.f=g_1X_2-g_2X_1+(1-a)X_1X_2.

The last summand is the normal remainder modulo (g1,g2)(g_1,g_2), since its degree in each variable is less than two. Its coefficient of X1X2X_1X_2 is nonzero, but the two ideal terms cancel that monomial in ff. Thus the coordinate upper bounds on the remainder do not transfer to an original monomial of ff.

The erratum prints only a≠1a\ne1. To give the stated nonzero exceptional value and two distinct elements of S2S_2, one also needs a≠0a\ne0. This parameter qualification is made explicit here; it does not alter the counterexample or constitute a further author-issued erratum.

The valid conclusion keeps only the coordinate lower bounds. Both monomials displayed in ff satisfy those bounds. The corrected statement is recorded once on the canonical Corollary 4.2 page, and the coordinatewise reduction it needs is proved in the grid-ideal lemma.