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Algebra Difficulty 4.9 AIME Prove it Saudi Arabia

Let cc be a given real number. Find all polynomials PP with real coefficients such that
(x+1)P(x1)(x1)P(x)=c for all xR. (x+1) P(x-1)-(x-1) P(x)=c \text{ for all } x \in \mathbb{R} .

Solution

In terms of G(x):=P(x)c2G(x) := P(x) - \frac{c}{2}, the given condition can be rewritten as
(x+1)G(x1)=(x1)G(x) for all xR. (x+1) G(x-1) = (x-1) G(x) \text{ for all } x \in \mathbb{R} .
It follows immediately (with x=±1x = \pm 1) that G(0)=0G(0) = 0 and G(1)=0G(-1) = 0. Therefore, G(x)=x(x+1)Q(x)G(x) = x(x+1) Q(x) for some QR[x]Q \in \mathbb{R}[x]. Then
Q(x1)=Q(x) for all xR{1,0,1}. Q(x-1) = Q(x) \text{ for all } x \in \mathbb{R} \setminus \{-1, 0, 1\} .
This is true iff QQ is a constant; i.e.,
P(x)=kx(x+1)+c2xR P(x) = k x(x+1) + \frac{c}{2} \quad \forall x \in \mathbb{R}
where kk is a real constant.

Remark. We have (x+2)G(x)=xG(x+1)(x+2) G(x) = x G(x+1) for all xRx \in \mathbb{R}. This is a special case of Problem 2 in the test for Level 4+ (where a=1,b=2a = -1, b = -2 ).

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