Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / /3 of 53

Algebra Difficulty 5.3 AIME, harder Prove it Vietnam

Prove that for all positive integers nn, the polynomial
P(x)=(x27x+6)2n+13 P(x) = (x^2 - 7x + 6)^{2n} + 13
can not be written as a product of (n+1)(n+1) non-constant polynomials with integer coefficients.

Solution

Clearly, polynomial P(x)P(x) has degree 4n4n and has no real root. Thus, any factor of P(x)P(x) has even degree. Suppose that P(x)P(x) can be expressed as the product of n+1n + 1 polynomials with degree greater than 0, so
P(x)=P1(x)P2(x)Pn+1(x) P(x) = P_1(x) \cdot P_2(x) \cdots P_{n+1}(x)
then Pi(x)P_i(x) with i=1,2,,ni = 1, 2, \dots, n has even degree. Since the sum of degrees of Pi(x)P_i(x) is 4n4n then there are at least two polynomials, let say P1(x),P2(x)P_1(x), P_2(x) of degree 2.
Since P(x)P(x) has the leading coefficient 1, suppose that P1(x),P2(x)P_1(x), P_2(x) have leading coefficients 1, which are
P1(x)=x2+ax+b,P2(x)=x2+cx+d where a,b,c,dZ. P_1(x) = x^2 + a x + b, \quad P_2(x) = x^2 + c x + d \text{ where } a, b, c, d \in \mathbb{Z}.
Since P1(x),P2(x)P_1(x), P_2(x) have no real roots, we have P1(x)>0,P2(x)>0P_1(x) > 0, P_2(x) > 0 for all integers xx.
We have
13=P(1)=P1(1)P2(1)Pn+1(1) 13 = P(1) = P_1(1) \cdot P_2(1) \cdots P_{n+1}(1)
and
13=P(6)=P1(6)P2(6)Pn+1(6). 13 = P(6) = P_1(6) \cdot P_2(6) \cdots P_{n+1}(6).
From this, at least one of two numbers P1(1)P_1(1) and P2(1)P_2(1) equal 1. Without loss of generality, we assume that P1(1)=1P_1(1) = 1. It follows that a=ba = -b, so P1(6)=365bP_1(6) = 36 - 5b. We observe that 365b>036 - 5b > 0 and cannot be equal to 13 so 365b=136 - 5b = 1, thus b=7,a=7b = 7, a = -7. But in this case the polynomial P1(x)=x27x+7P_1(x) = x^2 - 7x + 7 has real root, which is a contradiction.
Therefore, the above assumption is wrong so P(x)P(x) cannot be expressed as the product of (n+1)(n + 1) non-constant polynomials. \square

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 and solution reproduced as published; topic and difficulty added by this site.