Maths Olympiad Prep

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Algebra Difficulty 5.8 AIME, harder Prove it United States

Problem:
Determine, with proof, whether there is a function f(x,y)f(x, y) of two positive integers, taking positive integer values, such that
- For each fixed xx, f(x,y)f(x, y) is a polynomial function of yy;
- For each fixed yy, f(x,y)f(x, y) is a polynomial function of xx;
- However, f(x,y)f(x, y) does not equal any polynomial function of xx and yy.

Solution

Solution:
The answer is yes. Consider the following expression:
f(x,y)=1+(x1)(y1)+(x1)(y1)(x2)(y2)+(x1)(y1)(x2)(y2)(x3)(y3)+. f(x, y) = 1 + (x-1)(y-1) + (x-1)(y-1)(x-2)(y-2) + (x-1)(y-1)(x-2)(y-2)(x-3)(y-3) + \cdots.
Here, although the sum appears to be infinite, if we fix a value y=y0y = y_{0}, all but the first y0y_{0} terms contain the factor (yy0)(y - y_{0}) and therefore equal 00. Therefore f(x,y0)f(x, y_{0}) is defined and indeed is a polynomial in xx. (The initial term 11 is merely to ensure that f(x,y)f(x, y) is always positive.) Symmetrically, when xx is fixed, f(x,y)f(x, y) becomes a polynomial in yy.

It remains to prove that ff is not a polynomial in xx and yy. If so, we can expand ff as a finite sum of terms cxaybc x^{a} y^{b}; let a0a_{0} be the largest exponent aa occurring. Then, for every y0y_{0}, f(x,y0)f(x, y_{0}) is a polynomial in xx of degree at most a0a_{0}. However, we see that f(x,y0)f(x, y_{0}) is a polynomial in xx of degree y01y_{0} - 1. Taking y0=a0+2y_{0} = a_{0} + 2 yields a contradiction.

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