Problem:
Let be a monic cubic polynomial such that and such that all the zeros of are also zeros of . Find . Note: monic means that the leading coefficient is 1.
Problem:
Let be a monic cubic polynomial such that and such that all the zeros of are also zeros of . Find . Note: monic means that the leading coefficient is 1.
Solution:
A root of a polynomial will be a double root if and only if it is also a root of . Let and be the roots of . Since and are also roots of , they are double roots of . But can have only three roots, so and becomes a double root of . This makes for some constant , and thus . Because is a root of and is monic, and . From we get .