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HMMT February

Algebra Difficulty 5.7 AIME, harder Prove it United States

Problem:
Let P(x)=x3+ax2+bx+2015P(x) = x^{3} + a x^{2} + b x + 2015 be a polynomial all of whose roots are integers. Given that P(x)≥0P(x) \geq 0 for all x≥0x \geq 0, find the sum of all possible values of P(−1)P(-1).

Solution

Solution:
Since all the roots of P(x)P(x) are integers, we can factor it as P(x)=(x−r)(x−s)(x−t)P(x) = (x - r)(x - s)(x - t) for integers r,s,tr, s, t. By Vieta's formula, the product of the roots is rst=−2015r s t = -2015, so we need three integers to multiply to −2015-2015.

P(x)P(x) cannot have two distinct positive roots u,vu, v since otherwise, P(x)P(x) would be negative at least in some infinitesimal region x<ux < u or x>vx > v, or P(x)<0P(x) < 0 for u<x<vu < x < v. Thus, in order to have two positive roots, we must have a double root. Since 2015=5×13×312015 = 5 \times 13 \times 31, the only positive double root is a perfect square factor of 20152015, which is at x=1x = 1, giving us a possibility of P(x)=(x−1)2(x+2015)P(x) = (x - 1)^{2}(x + 2015).

Now we can consider when P(x)P(x) only has negative roots. The possible unordered triplets are (−1,−1,−2015),(−1,−5,−403),(−1,−13,−155),(−1,−31,−65),(−5,−13,−31)(-1, -1, -2015), (-1, -5, -403), (-1, -13, -155), (-1, -31, -65), (-5, -13, -31) which yield the polynomials
(x+1)2(x+2015), (x+1)(x+5)(x+403), (x+1)(x+13)(x+155), (x+1)(x+31)(x+65), (x+5)(x+13)(x+31)(x + 1)^{2}(x + 2015),\ (x + 1)(x + 5)(x + 403),\ (x + 1)(x + 13)(x + 155),\ (x + 1)(x + 31)(x + 65),\ (x + 5)(x + 13)(x + 31)
respectively.

Noticing that P(−1)=0P(-1) = 0 for four of these polynomials, we see that the nonzero values are P(−1)=(−1−1)2(2014),(5−1)(13−1)(31−1)P(-1) = (-1 - 1)^{2}(2014), (5 - 1)(13 - 1)(31 - 1), which sum to 8056+1440=94968056 + 1440 = 9496.

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