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Algebra Difficulty 6.2 National olympiad Prove it Romania

Let pp be a prime, p3p \geq 3, and kk an odd number, not a multiple of pp. Let KK be a finite field with kp+1kp+1 elements and A={x1,x2,,xt}A = \{x_1, x_2, \dots, x_t\}, the set of elements K=K{0}K^* = K \setminus \{0\} of order different of kk in the multiplicative group (K,)(K^*, \cdot). Prove that the polynomial P(X)=(X+x1)(X+x2)(X+xt)P(X) = (X + x_1)(X + x_2)\dots(X + x_t) has at least pp coefficients equal to 1.

Solution

As kk and pp are odd, K|K| is even, in fact a power of 22, the characteristic of KK being 22. It follows that x1,x2,,xtx_1, x_2, \dots, x_t are the roots of PP. Consider P=i=0tajXjP = \sum_{i=0}^{t} a_j X^j.

The multiplicative group (K,)(K^*, \cdot) is cyclic of order kpkp. Consider aKa \in K^* one of its generators. For any s{1,2,,kp}s \in \{1, 2, \dots, kp\}, with (s,kp)=1(s, kp) = 1 we get
ord(as)=ord(a)=kp.(1) \mathrm{ord}(a^s) = \mathrm{ord}(a) = kp. \qquad (1)
In particular, for any i{1,2,,p1}i \in \{1, 2, \dots, p-1\} we have (ik+p,k)=(p,k)=1(ik + p, k) = (p, k) = 1 and (ik+p,p)=(ik,p)=1(ik + p, p) = (ik, p) = 1, so that (ik+p,kp)=1(ik + p, kp) = 1 and ord(aik+p)=kp\mathrm{ord}(a^{ik+p}) = kp. These give

Ar=i=0p1airkP(aik+p)=i=0p1airkj=0tajaikj+pj=j=0tajapji=0p1ak(jr)i. A_r = \sum_{i=0}^{p-1} a^{-irk} P(a^{ik+p}) = \sum_{i=0}^{p-1} a^{-irk} \sum_{j=0}^{t} a_j a^{ikj+pj} = \sum_{j=0}^{t} a_j a^{pj} \sum_{i=0}^{p-1} a^{k(j-r)i}.
Because
i=0p1akmi={p,if pm,0,if pm, \sum_{i=0}^{p-1} a^{kmi} = \begin{cases} p, & \text{if } p \mid m, \\ 0, & \text{if } p \nmid m, \end{cases}
we obtain
Ar=j=0tajapji=0p1ak(jr)i=pj=0trpapj+rap(pj+r). A_r = \sum_{j=0}^{t} a_j a^{pj} \sum_{i=0}^{p-1} a^{k(j-r)i} = p \cdot \sum_{j=0}^{\lfloor \frac{t-r}{p} \rfloor} a_{pj+r} a^{p(pj+r)}.

For any divisor dkpd \nmid kp consider Ud={xKord(x)=d}U_d = \{x \in K^* \mid \text{ord}(x) = d\} and the polynomial
Qd=xUd(X+x). Q_d = \prod_{x \in U_d} (X + x).
Let K2={0,1}K_2 = \{0, 1\} the prime subfield of KK and 1=d1<d2<<dn=kp1 = d_1 < d_2 < \dots < d_n = kp the divisors of kpkp. As Q1=X+1K2[X]Q_1 = X + 1 \in K_2[X] and
Qdi=(Xdi+1)(djdi,djdiQdj)1K2[X], Q_{d_i} = (X^{d_i} + 1) \cdot \left( \prod_{d_j \mid d_i, d_j \neq d_i} Q_{d_j} \right)^{-1} \in K_2[X],
we have that all polynomials QdiK2[X]Q_{d_i} \in K_2[X] have all coefficients 00 or 11.
But then P=(Xkp+1)Qk1K2[X]P = (X^{kp} + 1) \cdot Q_k^{-1} \in K_2[X] has also this property, moreover at least pp being non-zero, concluding the proof.

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