1) Averaging operators take the average of functions transformed by isometries. For discrete polynomial averages, the functions are transformed by integer shifts defined by a polynomial. 2) The theorem proved that for certain ranges of exponents p and q, discrete polynomial averages of order N map lp(Z) to lq(Z) with a decay rate of N−d(1/p - 1/q), where d is the degree of the polynomial. 3) The proof involves viewing the averages as projections of universal polynomial averages on Zd and applying Hausdorff-Young inequalities and estimates of exponential sums.