THE FINITE SUM OF THE PRODUCTS OF TWO TOEPLITZ OPERATORS.

We consider in this paper the question of when the finite sum of products of two Toeplitz operators is a finite-rank perturbation of a single Toeplitz operator on the Hardy space over the unit disk. A necessary condition is found. As a consequence we obtain a necessary and sufficient condition for the product of three Toeplitz operators to be a finite-rank perturbation of a single Toeplitz operator. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]