Maths Olympiad Prep

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Number theory Difficulty 5.7 AIME, harder Prove it Slovenia

Find all polynomials PP with integer coefficients and the following property: for any integer aa and any prime pp that divides P(a)P(a) the prime pp also divides aa.

Solution

Let PP be a polynomial satisfying the conditions of the problem and let pp be an arbitrary prime. Any prime qq dividing P(p)P(p) also divides pp, so q=pq = p. Hence, for any prime pp we have P(p)=±pmpP(p) = \pm p^{m_p} for some non-negative integer mpm_p, which can depend on pp.

The polynomials P(x)=±1P(x) = \pm 1 obviously satisfy the conditions of the problem. Assume that the polynomial PP is not identically equal to 11 or 1-1. Write
P(x)=anxn+an1xn1++a1x+a0. P(x) = a_n x^n + a_{n-1} x^{n-1} + \dots + a_1 x + a_0.
The polynomial PP can take the value 11 and 1-1 only for a finite number of primes. So, there exist infinitely many primes such that
±pmp=P(p)=anpn+an1pn1++a1p+a0 \pm p^{m_p} = P(p) = a_n p^n + a_{n-1} p^{n-1} + \dots + a_1 p + a_0
and consequently pp divides a0a_0. This is only possible if a0=0a_0 = 0. Write P(x)=xkQ(x)P(x) = x^k Q(x) where kNk \in \mathbb{N} and QQ is a polynomial with integer coefficients such that Q(0)0Q(0) \neq 0. Let aa be an integer and let pp be a prime dividing Q(a)Q(a). Then pp divides P(a)P(a), so it also divides aa. Hence, the polynomial QQ satisfies the conditions of the problem. Since Q(0)0Q(0) \neq 0, we conclude that QQ has to be identically equal to 11 or to 1-1. The only possible polynomials are P(x)=±xnP(x) = \pm x^n, nN0n \in \mathbb{N}_0 and all of these obviously satisfy the conditions of the problem.

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