Find all polynomials with integer coefficients and the following property: for any integer and any prime that divides the prime also divides .
Solution
Let be a polynomial satisfying the conditions of the problem and let be an arbitrary prime. Any prime dividing also divides , so . Hence, for any prime we have for some non-negative integer , which can depend on .
The polynomials obviously satisfy the conditions of the problem. Assume that the polynomial is not identically equal to or . Write
The polynomial can take the value and only for a finite number of primes. So, there exist infinitely many primes such that
and consequently divides . This is only possible if . Write where and is a polynomial with integer coefficients such that . Let be an integer and let be a prime dividing . Then divides , so it also divides . Hence, the polynomial satisfies the conditions of the problem. Since , we conclude that has to be identically equal to or to . The only possible polynomials are , and all of these obviously satisfy the conditions of the problem.