EVERY POLYNOMIAL OVER A FIELD CONTAINING 𝔽16 IS A STRICT SUM OF FOUR CUBES AND ONE EXPRESSION A2 + A

Let q be a power of 16. Every polynomial $P\in\mathbb{F}_q$[t] is a strict sum $P=A^2+A+B^3+C^3+D^3+E^3$. The values of A,B,C,D,E are effectively obtained from the coefficients of P. The proof uses the new result that every polynomial $Q\in\mathbb{F}_q$[t], satisfying the necessary condition that the constant term Q(0) has zero trace, has a strict and effective representation as: $Q=F^2+F+tG^2$. This improves for such q's and such Q's a result of Gallardo, Rahavandrainy, and Vaserstein that requires three polynomials F,G,H for the strict representation $Q=F^2$+F+GH. Observe that the latter representation may be considered as an analogue in characteristic 2 of the strict representation of a polynomial Q by three squares in odd characteristic.