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Slovenia — National Math Olympiad

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+an−1xn−1+⋯+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+an−1pn−1+⋯+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 k∈Nk \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, n∈N0n \in \mathbb{N}_0 and all of these obviously satisfy the conditions of the problem.

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