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Algebra Difficulty 6.3 National olympiad Prove it Saudi Arabia

Let Pi(x)=x2+bix+ciP_{i}(x) = x^{2} + b_{i} x + c_{i} for i=1,2,,ni = 1, 2, \cdots, n be pairwise distinct polynomials of degree 22 with real coefficients so that for any 0i<jn0 \leq i < j \leq n; i,jNi, j \in \mathbb{N}, the polynomial Qi,j(x)=Pi(x)+Pj(x)Q_{i, j}(x) = P_{i}(x) + P_{j}(x) has only one real root. Find the greatest possible value of nn.

Solution

The answer n=3n = 3. In fact, the polynomials P1(x)=x24P_{1}(x) = x^{2} - 4, P2(x)=x24x+6P_{2}(x) = x^{2} - 4x + 6 and P3(x)=x28x+12P_{3}(x) = x^{2} - 8x + 12 satisfy the conditions:

P1+P2=2(x1)2P_{1} + P_{2} = 2(x - 1)^{2},

P1+P3=2(x2)2P_{1} + P_{3} = 2(x - 2)^{2},

P2+P3=2(x3)2P_{2} + P_{3} = 2(x - 3)^{2}.

Suppose that there are four polynomials P1,P2,P3,P4P_{1}, P_{2}, P_{3}, P_{4} satisfying the conditions. Then

P1+P2=2(xt12)2P_{1} + P_{2} = 2(x - t_{12})^{2},

P3+P4=2(xt34)2P_{3} + P_{4} = 2(x - t_{34})^{2},

P1+P3=2(xt13)2P_{1} + P_{3} = 2(x - t_{13})^{2},

P2+P4=2(xt24)2P_{2} + P_{4} = 2(x - t_{24})^{2},

where tijt_{ij} is the multiple root of the polynomial Pi+PjP_{i} + P_{j}.

Let Q=P1+P2+P3+P4Q = P_{1} + P_{2} + P_{3} + P_{4}. Then QQ has two representations

Q=2(xt12)2+2(xt34)2 and Q=2(xt13)2+2(xt24)2. Q = 2(x - t_{12})^{2} + 2(x - t_{34})^{2} \text{ and } Q = 2(x - t_{13})^{2} + 2(x - t_{24})^{2}.

By considering linear and constant terms of both expressions of QQ, we get

t12+t34=t13+t24 and t122+t342=t132+t242. t_{12} + t_{34} = t_{13} + t_{24} \text{ and } t_{12}^{2} + t_{34}^{2} = t_{13}^{2} + t_{24}^{2}.

This shows that (t12,t34)=(t24,t13)(t_{12}, t_{34}) = (t_{24}, t_{13}). But, if t12=t13P2=P3t_{12} = t_{13} \Rightarrow P_{2} = P_{3}, and if t12=t24P1=P4t_{12} = t_{24} \Rightarrow P_{1} = P_{4}, in both cases, we get a contradiction. \square

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