Let and be polynomials with integer coefficients. Let . Show that if is an integer for every , then is an integer for every integer such that .
, 2010
Solution
Imagine dividing by . We find that
where and are polynomials with rational coefficients, and is either identically or has degree less than the degree of .
By bringing the coefficients of to their least common multiple, we can find a polynomial with integer coefficients, and a positive integer , such that . Suppose first that is not identically . Note that for any integer , either , or . But whenever is large enough, , and therefore if is large enough, cannot be an integer.
So is identically , and (at least whenever .)
Now let be an integer. Then there are infinitely many integers such that . But is an integer, or equivalently divides . It follows that divides , and therefore is an integer.
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