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Algebra Difficulty 6.4 National Olympiad Prove it Philippines

Problem:

A fixed point of a function ff is a value of xx for which f(x)=xf(x)=x. Let ff be the quadratic function defined by f(x)=x2cx+cf(x)=x^{2}-c x+c where cRc \in \mathbb{R}. Find, in interval notation, the set consisting of all values of cc for which fff \circ f has four distinct fixed points.

Solution

Solution:

First, observe that both x=cx=c and x=1x=1 are fixed points of ff, and thus fixed points of fff \circ f. Indeed, a fixed point of ff is a value of xx such that f(x)x=0f(x)-x=0, and we have f(x)x=x2(c+1)x+c=(x1)(xc)f(x)-x = x^{2}-(c+1)x+c = (x-1)(x-c). Moreover, (ff)(x)x(f \circ f)(x)-x is a quartic polynomial in xx, and its roots are the fixed points of fff \circ f. Thus, it follows that (ff)(x)x=(x1)(xc)g(x)(f \circ f)(x)-x = (x-1)(x-c)g(x) for some quadratic polynomial gg. Explicitly solving gives us (ff)(x)x=(xc)(x1)(x2(c1)x+1)(f \circ f)(x)-x = (x-c)(x-1)\left(x^{2}-(c-1)x+1\right).

Thus, we need only x2(c1)x+1x^{2}-(c-1)x+1 to have two distinct roots, neither of which is equal to cc or 11. This means that (c1)24>0(c-1)^{2}-4>0, i.e. (c+1)(c3)>0(c+1)(c-3)>0. Thus, we want c<1c<-1 or c>3c>3. We check now that 11 and cc are not roots: we get if x=1x=1, x2(c1)x+1=3c0x^{2}-(c-1)x+1=3-c \neq 0 (since c3c \neq 3) and if x=cx=c, x2(c1)x+1=c+10x^{2}-(c-1)x+1=c+1 \neq 0 since c1c \neq -1.

Thus, all c(,1)(3,+)c \in (-\infty,-1) \cup (3,+\infty) work.

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