This thesis is divided into two chapters. First, we want to study particularclasses of power ideals, with particular attention to their relation with the Fröberg conjecture on the Hilbert series of generic ideals. In the second part,we study a generalization (introduced by Fröberg, Ottaviani, and Shapiro in 2012)of the classical Waring problem for polynomials about writing homogeneouspolynomials as sums of powers. We see also how the theories of fat points andsecant varieties of Veronese varieties play a crucial role in the relation betweenthose chapters and in providing tools to nd an answer to our questions. The main results are the computation of the Hilbert series of particularclasses of power ideals, which in particular give us a proof of the Fröberg conjecturefor generic ideals generated by eight homogeneous polynomials of thesame degree in four variables, and the solution of the generalized Waring problemin the case of sums of squares in three and four variables. We also beginthe study of the generalized Waring problem for monomials.

In the present thesis we analyze different types of additive decompositions of homogeneous polynomials. These problems are usually called Waring-type problems and their story go back to the mid-19th century and, recently, they received the attention of a large community of mathematicians and engineers due to several applications. At the same time, they are related to branches of Commutative Algebra and Algebraic Geometry. The classical Waring problem investigates decompositions of homogeneous polynomials as sums of powers of linear forms. Via Apolarity Theory, the study of these decompositions for a given polynomial F is related to the study of configuration of points apolar to F, namely, configurations of points whose defining ideal is contained in the ``perp'' ideal associated to F. In particular, we analyze which kind of minimal set of points can be apolar to some given polynomial in cases with small degrees and small number of variables. This let us introduce the concept of Waring loci of homogeneous polynomials. From a geometric point of view, questions about additive decompositions of polynomials can be described in terms of secant varieties of projective varieties. In particular, we are interested in the dimensions of such varieties. By using an old result due to Terracini, we can compute these dimensions by looking at the Hilbert series of homogeneous ideal. Hilbert series are very important algebraic invariants associated to homogeneous ideals. In the case of classical Waring problem, we have to look at power ideals, i.e., ideals generated by powers of linear forms. Via Apolarity Theory, their Hilbert series are related to Hilbert series of ideals of fat points, i.e., ideals of configurations of points with some multiplicity. In this thesis, we consider some special configuration of fat points. In general, Hilbert series of ideals of fat points is a very active field of research. We explain how it is related to the famous Fröberg's conjecture about Hilbert series of generic ideals. Moreover, we use Fröberg's conjecture to deduce the dimensions of several secant varieties of particular projective varieties and, then, to deduce results regarding some particular Waring-type problems for polynomials. In this thesis, we mostly work over the complex numbers. However, we also analyze the case of classical Waring decompositions for monomials over the real numbers. In particular, we classify for which monomials the minimal length of a decomposition in sum of powers of linear forms is independent from choosing the ground field as the field of complex or real numbers.