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Algebra Difficulty 5.3 AIME, harder Prove it United States

Problem:
Find all nonconstant polynomials P(x)P(x), with real coefficients and having only real zeros, such that P(x+1)P(x2x+1)=P(x3+1)P(x+1) P\left(x^{2}-x+1\right)=P\left(x^{3}+1\right) for all real numbers xx.

Solution

Solution:
Answer: {P(x)=xkkZ+}\left\{P(x)=x^{k} \mid k \in \mathbb{Z}^{+}\right\}.

Note that if P(α)=0P(\alpha)=0, then by setting x=α1x=\alpha-1 in the given equation, we find 0=P(x3+1)=P(α33α2+3α)0=P\left(x^{3}+1\right)=P\left(\alpha^{3}-3 \alpha^{2}+3 \alpha\right). Because PP is nonconstant, it has at least one zero. Because PP has finite degree, there exist minimal and maximal roots of PP. Writing α33α2+3ααα(α1)(α2)0\alpha^{3}-3 \alpha^{2}+3 \alpha \geq \alpha \Longleftrightarrow \alpha(\alpha-1)(\alpha-2) \geq 0, we see that the largest zero of PP cannot exceed 22. Likewise, the smallest zero cannot be negative, so all of the zeroes of PP lie in [0,2][0,2]. Moreover, if α{0,1,2}\alpha \notin\{0,1,2\} is a zero of PP, then α=α33α2+3α\alpha' = \alpha^{3}-3 \alpha^{2}+3 \alpha is another zero of PP that lies strictly between α\alpha and 11. Because PP has only finitely many zeroes, all of its zeroes must lie in {0,1,2}\{0,1,2\}.

Now write P(x)=kxp(x1)q(x2)rP(x)=k x^{p}(x-1)^{q}(x-2)^{r} for nonnegative integers p,qp, q and rr having a positive sum. The given equation becomes
k2(x+1)pxq(x1)r(x2x+1)p(x2x)q(x2x1)r=P(x+1)P(x2x+1)=P(x3+1)=k(x3+1)px3q(x31)r \begin{aligned} & k^{2}(x+1)^{p} x^{q}(x-1)^{r}\left(x^{2}-x+1\right)^{p}\left(x^{2}-x\right)^{q}\left(x^{2}-x-1\right)^{r} = P(x+1) P\left(x^{2}-x+1\right) \\ & \quad = P\left(x^{3}+1\right) = k\left(x^{3}+1\right)^{p} x^{3q}\left(x^{3}-1\right)^{r} \end{aligned}
For the leading coefficients to agree, we require k=k2k=k^{2}. Because the leading coefficient is nonzero, PP must be monic. In (),r(*), r must be zero lest P(x3+1)=0P\left(x^{3}+1\right)=0 have complex roots. Then qq must be zero as well. For, if qq is positive, then P(x2x+1)=0P\left(x^{2}-x+1\right)=0 has 11 as a root while P(x3+1)P\left(x^{3}+1\right) does not. Finally, the remaining possibilities are P(x)=xpP(x)=x^{p} for pp an arbitrary positive integer. It is easily seen that these polynomials are satisfactory.

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