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Geometry Difficulty 6.1 National olympiad Prove it Bulgaria

Find the least natural number nn for which cosπn\cos \frac{\pi}{n} can not be expressed in the form p+q+r3p + \sqrt{q} + \sqrt[3]{r}, where p,qp, q and rr are rational numbers.

Solution

We show that n=7n = 7. Note that
cosπ=1,cosπ2=0,cosπ3=12,cosπ4=22,cosπ6=32. \cos \pi = -1, \cos \frac{\pi}{2} = 0, \cos \frac{\pi}{3} = \frac{1}{2}, \cos \frac{\pi}{4} = \frac{\sqrt{2}}{2}, \cos \frac{\pi}{6} = \frac{\sqrt{3}}{2}.
Further, it follows from 0=cos3π5+cos2π50 = \cos \frac{3\pi}{5} + \cos \frac{2\pi}{5} that x5=cosπ5x_5 = \cos \frac{\pi}{5} is a root of the equation 0=4x33x+2x21=(x+1)(4x22x1)0 = 4x^3 - 3x + 2x^2 - 1 = (x+1)(4x^2 - 2x - 1), i.e. x5=1+54x_5 = \frac{1+\sqrt{5}}{4}.
It remains to prove that x7=cosπ7x_7 = \cos \frac{\pi}{7} can not be expressed in the form p+q+r3p + \sqrt{q} + \sqrt[3]{r}, where p,qp, q and rr are rational numbers. Since 0=cos4π7+cos3π70 = \cos \frac{4\pi}{7} + \cos \frac{3\pi}{7} we have that x7x_7 is a root of
0=2(2x21)21+4x33x=(x+1)(8x34x24x+1), 0 = 2(2x^2 - 1)^2 - 1 + 4x^3 - 3x = (x + 1)(8x^3 - 4x^2 - 4x + 1),
i.e. x7x_7 is a zero of P(x)=8x34x24x+1P(x) = 8x^3 - 4x^2 - 4x + 1. Suppose that x7=p+q+r3x_7 = p + \sqrt{q} + \sqrt[3]{r}, where q0,p,rQq \ge 0, p, r \in \mathbb{Q}. Now x7x_7 is a zero of Q(x)=(xpq)3rQ(x) = (x - p - \sqrt{q})^3 - r with coefficients of the form a+bqa + b\sqrt{q}, a,bQa, b \in \mathbb{Q}, i.e. from Q[q]\mathbb{Q}[\sqrt{q}]. Since the coefficient of xx is nonnegative we have that P8QP \ne 8Q. Thus P=8Q+RP = 8Q + R, where RR is a

polynomial of degree 1 or 2 with coefficients from Q[q]\mathbb{Q}[\sqrt{q}] and R(x7)=0R(x_7) = 0. If degR=1\deg R = 1, then x7Q[q]x_7 \in \mathbb{Q}[\sqrt{q}]. If degR=2\deg R = 2 and RR does not divide PP, then x7x_7 is a zero of the remainder of PP divided by RR, i.e. again x7Q[q]x_7 \in \mathbb{Q}[q]. If degR=2\deg R = 2 and RR divides PP then the zero of PR\frac{P}{R}, which is from Q[q]\mathbb{Q}[q] is also zero of PP. Thus, PP has a zero from Q[q]\mathbb{Q}[q]. It is a zero of a polynomial of degree 1 or 2 with rational coefficients. It follows as above that PP has rational zero. Direct verification shows that none of the numbers ±1,±12,±14,±18\pm 1, \pm \frac{1}{2}, \pm \frac{1}{4}, \pm \frac{1}{8} (which are all possible rational zeroes of PP) is a zero of PP, a contradiction.

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