The polynomial with integer coefficients satisfies the equality
a) Find all possible values of .
b) Give an example of at least one polynomial that satisfies the condition.
Belarus competition problems
Solution
a) Consider any monomial of and substitute and into it. When opening the brackets in the expression , all terms will look like , where . If is even then if is replaced by , the sign of the term doesn't change, and the value of this term is a positive integer or a positive integer multiplied by . If is odd then with such a change the sign of the term changes and the value of this term is a positive integer multiplied by or a positive integer multiplied by . Since these observations are true for every monomial, they are also true for the value of the entire polynomial, i.e. .
b) It is easy to verify that satisfies the problem conditions. Let's show how to find this example. Arguing as in paragraph a) we can write two more equalities: and . These equalities show that numbers satisfy the equality , so they are roots of the polynomial . By Bezout's theorem, a polynomial with these roots is divisible by a polynomial
It remains to find from the equality .