Problem: Find all non-zero real numbers a, b, c such that the following polynomial has four (not necessarily distinct) positive real roots.
P(x)=ax4−8ax3+bx2−32cx+16c
Solution
Solution: Assume that P(x) has 4 positive real roots x1, x2, x3 and x4. Using Viete's theorem, one can obtain the following equations
x1+x2+x3+x4=a8a=8x1x2+x1x3+x1x4+x2x3+x2x4+x3x4=abx1x2x3+x1x2x4+x1x3x4+x2x3x4=a32cx1x2x3x4=a16c(5) From 4 and 5, we have
x11+x21+x31+x41=x1x2x3x4x1x2x3+x1x2x4+x1x3x4+x2x3x4=a16ca32c=2(6) Using AM-GM (arithmetic mean geometric mean inequality) on the sums in equation (2) and (6) we get
48=4x1+x2+x3+x4⩾4x1⋅x2⋅x3⋅x4
42=4x11+x21+x31+x41⩾4x11⋅x21⋅x31⋅x41 Multiplying these together yields 1⩾1 and so equality must occur in both AM-GM's. Therefore x1=x2=x3=x4. Furthermore for Equation (2) we get x1=x2=x3=x4=2. Substituting this into equation (3) gives us b=24a. Substituting this into equation (5) gives us c=a. So (a,b,c)=(a,24a,a) where a is any non-zero real number, and the polynomial P(x) is
P(x)=a(x−x1)(x−x2)(x−x3)(x−x4)=a(x−2)4.
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