Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / /7 of 31

Algebra Difficulty 6.1 National Olympiad Prove it Italy

Problem:

Let p(x)p(x) be a polynomial with integer coefficients such that p(0)=0p(0)=0 and 0p(1)1070 \leq p(1) \leq 10^{7}. Given that there exist two positive integers a,ba, b such that p(a)=1999p(a)=1999 and p(b)=2001p(b)=2001, determine the possible values of p(1)p(1).

(Note: observe that 1999 is a prime number)

Solution

Solution:

The possible values of p(1)p(1) are 1,1999,3.996.001,7.992.0011, 1999, 3.996.001, 7.992.001.

To justify these results, let us begin by proving that
- aa can only be 11 or 19991999;
- bb is a positive divisor of 20012001;
- bab-a equals ±1\pm 1 or ±2\pm 2.

To prove these statements, observe that from p(0)=0p(0)=0 it follows that the constant term of p(x)p(x) is zero, so we can write
p(x)=xq(x) p(x) = x q(x)
for some polynomial q(x)q(x) with integer coefficients. Substituting x=ax=a into this relation we get aq(a)=1999a q(a) = 1999 and thus, since aa and q(a)q(a) are integers and 19991999 is prime, the first statement is proved. The second statement is proved analogously by setting x=bx=b.

For the third statement, observe that by Ruffini's theorem it follows that
p(x)=(xa)r(x)+p(a)=(xa)r(x)+1999 p(x) = (x-a) r(x) + p(a) = (x-a) r(x) + 1999
for some polynomial r(x)r(x) with integer coefficients. Substituting x=bx=b into this relation we get (ba)r(b)=2(b-a) r(b) = 2, that is, bab-a is a divisor of 22, which is equivalent to the third statement.

Since 2001=323292001 = 3 \cdot 23 \cdot 29 it is easy to check that the only positive values of aa and bb satisfying the three conditions are a=1,b=3a=1, b=3, or a=1999,b=2001a=1999, b=2001.

In the first case p(1)=p(a)=1999p(1) = p(a) = 1999. It remains to verify that there actually exist polynomials satisfying the conditions required in the statement with a=1a=1 and b=3b=3: for example the second-degree polynomial 666x2+2665x-666 x^{2} + 2665 x.

p(x)x=x(x1999)(x2001)s(x) p(x) - x = x(x-1999)(x-2001) s(x)
for some polynomial s(x)s(x) with integer coefficients. Substituting x=1x=1 we then get that
p(1)=1+19982000s(1) p(1) = 1 + 1998 \cdot 2000 \cdot s(1)
Since by hypothesis we have 0p(1)1070 \leq p(1) \leq 10^{7}, the only possible values for s(1)s(1) are 0,1,20, 1, 2, to which correspond p(1)=1,3.996.001,7.992.001p(1) = 1, 3.996.001, 7.992.001.

Want a route through all this instead of an archive? The track puts 2,000 problems in a working order, from AMC 10 level to the IMO shortlist.

Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement translated into English from it; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.