Maths Olympiad Prep

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Algebra Difficulty 5.4 AIME, harder Prove it Slovenia

Does there exist an integer nn such that all roots of the polynomial p(x)=x42011x2+np(x) = x^4 - 2011x^2 + n are integers?

Solution

Assume that such nn exists. From x42011x2+n=0x^4 - 2011x^2 + n = 0 we deduce that
x2=2011±201124n2. x^2 = \frac{2011 \pm \sqrt{2011^2 - 4n}}{2}.
This has to be an integer, so 201124n2011^2 - 4n has to be a perfect square. We can write 201124n=m22011^2 - 4n = m^2 for some odd positive integer mm or n=20112m24n = \frac{2011^2 - m^2}{4}. So, x2=2011±m2x^2 = \frac{2011 \pm m}{2}. The numbers 2011+m2\frac{2011+m}{2} and 2011m2\frac{2011-m}{2} are perfect squares and their sum is 2011. Let us show that 2011 cannot be written as a sum of two perfect squares. When divided by 4 a perfect square can only give the remainder 0 or 1. A sum of two perfect squares can therefore only give the remainder 0, 1 or 2. Since 2011 gives the remainder 3, it cannot be the sum of two perfect squares. Hence, an integer nn with the required properties does not exist.

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