This paper presents a new method of designing scalar functional observers of order less than the well-known upper bound (ν - 1). A condition for the existence of observers of order p where 1 ≤ <i>p</i> ≤ (ν - 1) is given. A simple and effective algorithm for solving the constrained generalized Sylvester equation is proposed. Several numerical examples are given to illustrate the attractiveness of the design algorithm. <br>