Layered tropical mathematics

Generalizing supertropical algebras, we present a “layered” structure, “sorted” by a semiring which permits varying ghost layers, and indicate how it is more amenable than the “standard” supertropical construction in factorizations of polynomials, description of varieties, and for mathematical analysis and calculus, in particular with respect to multiple roots of polynomials. This gives rise to a significantly better understanding of the tropical resultant and discriminant. Explicit examples and comparisons are given for various sorting semirings such as the natural numbers and the positive rational numbers, and we see how this theory relates to some recent developments in the tropical literature.