We say a polynomial of degree three with integer coefficients is good if it has three real roots and all its roots are irrational numbers between and .
(i) Is there a good polynomial with leading coefficient equal to ?
(ii) Is there a good polynomial with leading coefficient equal to ?
Solution
Answer: (i) No, (ii) Yes.
a. (i)
Let , , and be integers and suppose that
is a good polynomial with . Let . Then it is easy to see that for any . Moreover,
is an integer. It follows that , thus there is no good polynomial with leading coefficient .
b. (ii)
Let , and be integers and let . First, suppose that and , then we have and . Now suppose that and , then we have and it is clear that is good.
Hence for and for are good polynomials.
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