Let f1, . . . , fp be entire functions that do not all vanish at any point, so that (f1, . . . , fp) is a holomorphic curve in CPp−1. We introduce a new and more careful notion
of counting the order of the zero of a linear combination of the functions f1, . . . , fp at any point where such a linear combination vanishes, and, if all the f1, . . . , fp are polynomials, also at infinity. This enables us to formulate an inequality, which sometimes holds as an identity, that sharpens the classical results of Cartan and others.
