For a polynomial , let if is the smallest positive integer such that
and if such an integer does not exist. Does there exist a polynomial of degree such that ?
Solution
The answer is that it does exist such a polynomial. Actually we shall prove a more general result: Let be an even integer and be an arbitrary integer. Then for some constant for the polynomial (which is of degree ) we have . Indeed:
The polynomial is strictly increasing function on the interval . Let be the minimal value of the polynomial for a fixed ,
Consider is strictly increasing, because of and . The equation (where is the unknown). Since the leading coefficient of the polynomial equals and the constant term is (we can prove these claims trivially by induction on ), this polynomial has a positive zero. Let be one of them. Now for the polynomial we have , and therefore . This completes the proof.
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