Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / /401 of 740

, 2019

Algebra Difficulty 5.0 AIME, harder Prove it United States

Problem:
The coefficients of the polynomial P(x)P(x) are nonnegative integers, each less than 100100. Given that P(10)=331633P(10) = 331633 and P(10)=273373P(-10) = 273373, compute P(1)P(1).

Solution

Solution:
Let
P(x)=a0+a1x+a2x2+ P(x) = a_{0} + a_{1} x + a_{2} x^{2} + \ldots
Then
12(P(10)+P(10))=a0+100a2+ \frac{1}{2}(P(10) + P(-10)) = a_{0} + 100 a_{2} + \ldots
and
12(P(10)P(10))=10a1+1000a3+ \frac{1}{2}(P(10) - P(-10)) = 10 a_{1} + 1000 a_{3} + \ldots
Since all the coefficients are nonnegative integers, these expressions give us each of the coefficients by just taking two digits in succession. Thus we have a0=3a_{0} = 3, a1=13a_{1} = 13, a2=25a_{2} = 25, a3=29a_{3} = 29, a4=30a_{4} = 30 and an=0a_{n} = 0 for n>4n > 4. Thus
P(1)=a0+a1+a2+=100 P(1) = a_{0} + a_{1} + a_{2} + \cdots = 100

Want a route through all this instead of an archive? The track puts 2,000 problems in a working order, from AMC 10 level to the IMO shortlist.

Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.