Find all positive integers such that there exists a polynomial of degree with integer coefficients and a positive leading coefficient and a polynomial with integer coefficients such that the equality
holds for every real .
Solution
We have .
We will now find all pairs of integer-coefficient polynomials such that .
Let be one such pair such that the degree of is . We can assume, without loss of generality, that and have positive leading coefficients. Let
and and let and . It is easy to show that and also satisfy the given equation and that the degree of is strictly less than the degree of .
(One way to come up with this construction is as follows. The equation on and can be rewritten as . Also, one of its solutions is given by , i.e. . Multiplying the last two equations then gives us exactly .)
Continuing this process, we will eventually arrive at a solution such that is constant. There are, however, only two solutions of this kind: and . Since applying the operation to the former yields the latter, we can, without loss of generality, assume that .
It follows that all solution pairs are given by the sequence determined by the initial condition and the recurrence relation . (Or, more precisely, this recurrence yields those solutions in which the leading coefficients of and are positive.)
A member of that sequence corresponds to a solution of the original equation exactly when is congruent to and is divisible by . Since the first five members of the sequence are , , , , and and , the sequence is periodic with period and exactly the members such that is a multiple of yield a solution. Therefore, the necessary values of are the numbers for .