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Algebra Difficulty 5.9 AIME, harder Prove it Iran

Prove that for every positive integers kk and nn there exist kk monic polynomials P1(x),P2(x),...,Pk(x)P_1(x), P_2(x),..., P_k(x) of degree nn with integer coefficient such that each two of them have no common factor and the sum of each arbitrary number of them has all its roots real.

Solution

For each 1ik1 \le i \le k we define
Pi(x)=(xi)(x(k+i))(x((n1)k+i)). P_i(x) = (x - i)(x - (k + i))\cdots(x - ((n - 1)k + i)).
We claim that these polynomials satisfy the problem condition.
For each 1ik1 \le i \le k and each 0jn10 \le j \le n - 1, Pi(x)P_i(x) has exactly one simple root in the interval (jk+12,(j+1)k+12)(jk + \frac{1}{2}, (j+1)k + \frac{1}{2}) so invoking the *mean value theorem* we deduce that Pi(jk+12)P_i(jk + \frac{1}{2}) and Pi((j+1)k+12)P_i((j+1)k + \frac{1}{2}) have different signs. Note that Pi(nk+12)>0P_i(nk + \frac{1}{2}) > 0 because PiP_i is monic and so is positive for large positive values and does not have any root greater than nn. Thus for each 1ik1 \le i \le k, Pi(jk+12)>0P_i(jk + \frac{1}{2}) > 0 if jn(mod2)j \equiv n \pmod 2 and Pi(jk+12)<0P_i(jk + \frac{1}{2}) < 0 if j≢n(mod2)j \not\equiv n \pmod 2.

Now let Q(x)=Pi1(x)+Pi2(x)++Pit(x)Q(x) = P_{i_1}(x) + P_{i_2}(x) + \dots + P_{i_t}(x) where i1,i2,,it{1,2,,k}i_1, i_2, \dots, i_t \in \{1, 2, \dots, k\} are distinct. Obviously Q(x)Z[x]Q(x) \in \mathbb{Z}[x] is a polynomial of degree nn.
For each 0jn10 \le j \le n-1, numbers Q(jk+12)Q(jk + \frac{1}{2}) and Q((j+1)k+12)Q((j+1)k + \frac{1}{2}) have different signs
because Pi1,Pi2,,PitP_{i_1}, P_{i_2}, \dots, P_{i_t} have this property. So again according to mean value theorem
we deduce that QQ has a root in the interval (jk+12,(j+1)k+12)(jk + \frac{1}{2}, (j+1)k + \frac{1}{2}) and Q(x)Q(x) has at
most nn real roots so all its roots are real, hence the claim is proved. \square

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