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Algebra Difficulty 7.0 National olympiad Prove it Saudi Arabia

Given a polynomial f(x)=x4+ax3+bx2+cxf(x) = x^{4} + a x^{3} + b x^{2} + c x. It is known that each of the equations f(x)=1f(x) = 1 and f(x)=2f(x) = 2 has four real roots (not necessarily distinct). Prove that if the roots of the first equation satisfy the equality x1+x2=x3+x4x_{1} + x_{2} = x_{3} + x_{4}, then the same equation holds for the roots of the second equation.

Solution

Consider the equation f(x)=1x4+ax3+bx2+cx=1f(x) = 1 \Leftrightarrow x^{4} + a x^{3} + b x^{2} + c x = 1, since it has four roots x1,x2,x3,x4x_{1}, x_{2}, x_{3}, x_{4} then we can write it as
(xx1)(xx2)(xx3)(xx4)=0. (x - x_{1})(x - x_{2})(x - x_{3})(x - x_{4}) = 0.
Note that x1+x2=x3+x4=a2x_{1} + x_{2} = x_{3} + x_{4} = -\frac{a}{2} then
(x2(x1+x2)x+x1x2)(x2(x3+x4)x+x3x4)=0 \left(x^{2} - (x_{1} + x_{2}) x + x_{1} x_{2}\right)\left(x^{2} - (x_{3} + x_{4}) x + x_{3} x_{4}\right) = 0
or
(x2+ax2+x1x2)(x2+ax2+x3x4)=0. \left(x^{2} + \frac{a x}{2} + x_{1} x_{2}\right)\left(x^{2} + \frac{a x}{2} + x_{3} x_{4}\right) = 0.
Continue with the equation f(x)=2(x2+ax2+x1x2)(x2+ax2+x3x4)=1f(x) = 2 \Leftrightarrow \left(x^{2} + \frac{a x}{2} + x_{1} x_{2}\right)\left(x^{2} + \frac{a x}{2} + x_{3} x_{4}\right) = 1. By putting X=x2+ax2X = x^{2} + \frac{a x}{2}, we get
(X+x1x2)(X+x3x4)=1 (X + x_{1} x_{2})(X + x_{3} x_{4}) = 1
Since f(x)=2f(x) = 2 has four real roots then this equation has two roots like X=α,X=βX = \alpha, X = \beta. This implies that
{x2+ax2=αx2+ax2=β \left\{ \begin{array}{l} x^{2} + \frac{a x}{2} = \alpha \\ x^{2} + \frac{a x}{2} = \beta \end{array} \right.
Then four roots x1,x2,x3,x4x'_{1}, x'_{2}, x'_{3}, x'_{4} of the f(x)=2f(x) = 2 can be divided into two pairs that have the sum equal to a2-\frac{a}{2} which means x1+x2=x3+x4x'_{1} + x'_{2} = x'_{3} + x'_{4}. This finishes the proof.

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