Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / /1095 of 1394

, 2015

Algebra Difficulty 5.6 AIME, harder Prove it United States

Problem:
Let f:[0,1]Cf:[0,1] \rightarrow \mathbb{C} be a nonconstant complex-valued function on the real interval [0,1][0,1]. Prove that there exists ϵ>0\epsilon>0 (possibly depending on ff) such that for any polynomial PP with complex coefficients, there exists a complex number zz with z1|z| \leq 1 such that f(z)P(z)ϵ|f(|z|)-P(z)| \geq \epsilon.

Solution

Solution:
We claim we can choose ϵ(f)=max(f(x1)f(x2))/2\epsilon(f)=\max \left(|f(x_{1})-f(x_{2})|\right) / 2. Fix PP and suppose for the sake of contradiction that for all zz with z1|z| \leq 1 it is the case that f(z)P(z)<ϵ|f(z)-P(z)|<\epsilon. We can write z=reiθz=r e^{i \theta} so that
f(r)P(reiθ)<ϵ |f(r)-P(r e^{i \theta})|<\epsilon
Let pp be a prime larger than deg(P)\operatorname{deg}(P) and set θ=0,2π/p,4π/p,\theta=0,2 \pi / p, 4 \pi / p, \ldots in the above. Averaging, and using triangle inequality,
f(r)1pk=0p1P(re2πik/p)<ϵ \left|f(r)-\frac{1}{p} \sum_{k=0}^{p-1} P\left(r e^{2 \pi i k / p}\right)\right|<\epsilon
The sum inside the absolute value is a roots of unity filter; since p>deg(P)p>\operatorname{deg}(P) it is simply the constant term of PP - denote this value by p0p_{0}. Thus for all rr,
f(r)p0<ϵ |f(r)-p_{0}|<\epsilon
Setting r=x1,x2r=x_{1}, x_{2} and applying triangle inequality gives the desired contradiction.

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