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Algebra Difficulty 8.4 Shortlist Prove it Turkey

Let d(n)d(n) be the smallest prime divisor of integer n{0,1,+1}n \notin \{0, -1, +1\}. Determine all polynomials P(x)P(x) with integer coefficients satisfying
P(n+d(n))=n+d(P(n)) P(n+d(n)) = n+d(P(n))
for all integers n>2014n > 2014 for which P(n){0,1,+1}P(n) \notin \{0, -1, +1\}.

Solution

The answer: P(x)=x,P(x)=1,0,1P(x) = x, P(x) = 1, 0, -1.

We start with the case when deg(P(x))2\deg(P(x)) \ge 2. Let us take n=qn = q, where qq is prime: P(q+d(q))=q+d(P(q))P(q+d(q)) = q+d(P(q)) yields P(2q)=q+d(P(q))P(2q) = q+d(P(q)). Therefore, P(2q)q+P(q)|P(2q)| \le q + |P(q)| and P(2q)P(q)qP(q)+1\left|\frac{P(2q)}{P(q)}\right| \le \frac{q}{|P(q)|} + 1 (1). Now when qq increases the left hand side of (1) goes to 2deg(P(x))2^{\deg(P(x))}, but right hand side goes to 1. Contradiction.

Now let deg(P(x))=1\deg(P(x)) = 1 and P(x)=bx+cP(x) = bx + c. Then again for n=qn = q we get 2bq+c=q+d(bq+c)2bq + c = q + d(bq + c) and (2b1)q+c=d(bq+c)(2b - 1)q + c = d(bq + c). If qq is sufficiently large we get that b1b \ge 1 and (2b1)q+cbq+c(2b - 1)q + c \le bq + c which in turn yields b=1b = 1. Thus, n+d(n)+c=n+d(n+c)n + d(n) + c = n + d(n + c) and d(n)+c=d(n+c)d(n) + c = d(n + c) (2).

If c>0c > 0 then for n=2lcn = 2^l - c the left hand side of (2) is at least 3, while the right hand side of (2) is 2. If c<0c < 0 then for n=2ln = 2^l the left hand side of (2) is at most 1, while the right hand side of (2) is at least 2. Thus, c=0c = 0 and P(x)=xP(x) = x.

If deg(P(x))=0\deg(P(x)) = 0 then for c0,±1c \ne 0, \pm 1 we get c=n+d(c)c = n + d(c), a contradiction.

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