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Number theory Difficulty 5.9 AIME, harder Prove it Singapore

Let n2n \ge 2 be a positive integer. For any integer aa, let Qa(x)Q_a(x) denote the polynomial xn+axx^n + ax. Let pp be a prime number and SaS_a be the set
Sa={b0bp1,cZ,Qa(c)b(modp)}. S_a = \{b \mid 0 \le b \le p-1, \exists c \in \mathbb{Z}, Q_a(c) \equiv b \pmod{p}\}.
Show that the expression 1p1a=1p1Sa\frac{1}{p-1} \sum_{a=1}^{p-1} |S_a| is an integer.

Solution

All congruences are taken modulo pp. We count pairs (a,b)(a, b) taken modulo pp where a0a \neq 0 and the equation xn+axbx^n + ax \equiv b has a solution in xx. Then a=1p1Sa\sum_{a=1}^{p-1} |S_a| is the total number of such pairs.

First, consider all pairs (a,b)(a, b) where a0a \neq 0. Defined the relation (a,b)(a,b)(a, b) \sim (a', b') if there exists k0k \neq 0 such that aakn1a \equiv a'k^{n-1} and bbknb \equiv b'k^n. It follows that if (a,b)(a,b)(a, b) \sim (a', b') and (a,b)(a,b)(a', b') \sim (a'', b''), then (a,b)(a,b)(a, b) \sim (a'', b''). Also if (a,b)(a,b)(a, b) \sim (a', b') then (a,b)(a,b)(a', b') \sim (a, b). Hence this relation partitions our pairs into subsets, where each subset consists of pairs that are all related to each other. Let A be such a subset and (a,b)A(a, b) \in A. Then all other pairs may be described as (akn1,bkn)(ak^{n-1}, bk^n) where xn+akn1xbknx^n+ak^{n-1}x \equiv bk^n has a solution. But since xn+axbx^n+ax \equiv b has a solution, say x0x_0, one may check that kx0kx_0 is a solution to xn+akn1xbknx^n+ak^{n-1}x \equiv bk^n for each non-zero kk. Thus the pair (akn1,bkn)A(ak^{n-1}, bk^n) \in A. This gives us exactly p1p-1 distinct pairs in A since if a,b0a, b \neq 0,
ain1ajn1,binbjnin1jn1,injnij. ai^{n-1} \equiv aj^{n-1}, bi^n \equiv bj^n \Rightarrow i^{n-1} \equiv j^{n-1}, in \equiv j^n \Rightarrow i \equiv j.

Now when b0b \equiv 0, the equation xn+ax0x^n + ax \equiv 0 has a solution for all aa. This gives us an additional p1p-1 pairs (a,0)(a, 0) as we want a0a \neq 0. Adding the sizes of the subsets up, we conclude that a=1p1Sa\sum_{a=1}^{p-1} |S_a| is divisible by p1p-1 as desired.

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