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Algebra Difficulty 6.1 National Olympiad Prove it Iran

Find all real numbers a,b>1a, b > 1 such that there are polynomials P(x)P(x) and Q(x)Q(x) with real coefficients that P(x){ann=1,2,}P(x) \in \{a^n \mid n = 1, 2, \dots\} if and only if Q(x){bnn=1,2,}Q(x) \in \{b^n \mid n = 1, 2, \dots\}.

Solution

Denote by A={ann=1,2,}A = \{a^n \mid n = 1, 2, \dots\} and B={bnn=1,2,}B = \{b^n \mid n = 1, 2, \dots\}. Let us assume PP and QQ are non-constant. Otherwise all the pairs (a,b)(a, b) would be the solution. We claim that if logalogbQ\frac{\log a}{\log b} \in \mathbb{Q} then a,ba, b satisfies the problem's condition. If logalogb=rs\frac{\log a}{\log b} = \frac{r}{s} where r,sr, s are even integers, let P(x)=xr,Q(x)=xsP(x) = x^r, Q(x) = x^s then, P(t)AP(t) \in A if and only if tr=ant^r = a^n thus, ts=bnt^s = b^n, yielding Q(t)BQ(t) \in B.

Now, if logalogb\frac{\log a}{\log b} is irrational but there are polynomials P,QP, Q then there must exist MM such that P(x),Q(x)P(x), Q(x) are strictly increasing on [M,+)[M, +\infty). If t>Mt > M satisfies the statement of the problem, then P(t)=anP(t) = a^n for some positive integer nn and Q(t)=bmQ(t) = b^m for some positive integer mm. Thus, there would be t1>tt_1 > t such that P(t1)=an+1P(t_1) = a^{n+1} and then Q(t1)=bm+NQ(t_1) = b^{m+N}. If N>1N > 1 then there is some zz such that Q(z)=bm+1Q(z) = b^{m+1} and hence, P(z)P(z) must be a power of aa between an,an+1a^n, a^{n+1}, a contradiction. Hence, N=1N = 1.

Analogously, we obtain a sequence (tk)(t_k) such that P(tk)=an+kP(t_k) = a^{n+k} as well as P(tk)=bm+kP(t_k) = b^{m+k}. Notice that limx+logP(x)logQ(x)=degPdegQ\lim_{x \to +\infty} \frac{\log P(x)}{\log Q(x)} = \frac{\deg P}{\deg Q}. Then,
logalogb=limk+logan+klogbm+k=limtk+logP(tk)logQ(tk)=degPdegQ. \frac{\log a}{\log b} = \lim_{k \to +\infty} \frac{\log a^{n+k}}{\log b^{m+k}} = \lim_{t_k \to +\infty} \frac{\log P(t_k)}{\log Q(t_k)} = \frac{\deg P}{\deg Q}.
Remark. It is clear that tkt_k tends to infinity and also PP and QQ would be positive for all large enough xx. ■

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