Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / /69 of 155

Algebra Difficulty 5.9 AIME, harder Prove it Saudi Arabia

Let be given a positive integer n>1n > 1. Find all polynomials P(x)P(x) non constant, with real coefficients such that
P(x)P(x2)P(xn)=P(xn(n+1)2) P(x) P\left(x^{2}\right) \ldots P\left(x^{n}\right) = P\left(x^{\frac{n(n+1)}{2}}\right)
for all xRx \in \mathbb{R}.

Solution

Denote mm as degree of P(x)P(x) then by comparing the leading coefficients aa of two sides, we get an=aa^{n} = a. We consider two cases based on the parity of nn.

1. If nn is even then a=1a = 1. Put P(x)=xm+Q(x)P(x) = x^{m} + Q(x) with QR[x]Q \in \mathbb{R}[x] and if Q(x)0Q(x) \equiv 0, we obtain P(x)=xmP(x) = x^{m} as a solution. Otherwise, suppose that Q(x)0Q(x) \neq 0 and degQ(x)=k<m\operatorname{deg} Q(x) = k < m. So
(xm+Q(x))(x2m+Q(x2))(xmn+Q(xn))xmn(n+1)2=Q(xn(n+1)2). \left(x^{m} + Q(x)\right)\left(x^{2m} + Q\left(x^{2}\right)\right) \cdots \left(x^{mn} + Q\left(x^{n}\right)\right) - x^{\frac{mn(n+1)}{2}} = Q\left(x^{\frac{n(n+1)}{2}}\right).
The degree of LHS is mn(n+1)2(mk)\frac{mn(n+1)}{2} - (m - k), while the degree of RHS is kn(n+1)2\frac{kn(n+1)}{2}. Note that
mn(n+1)2(mk)kn(n+1)2=(mk)(n+2)(n1)2>0 \frac{mn(n+1)}{2} - (m - k) - \frac{kn(n+1)}{2} = \frac{(m - k)(n + 2)(n - 1)}{2} > 0
which implies that the degree of both sides cannot be equal. Thus Q(x)0Q(x) \equiv 0.

2. If nn is odd then a=±1a = \pm 1 and the case a=1a = 1 can be solved similarly as above. For the case a=1a = -1, put P(x)=(xm+Q(x))P(x) = -\left(x^{m} + Q(x)\right) then process similarly, we get P(x)=xmP(x) = -x^{m} as another solution.

Hence, P(x)=xmP(x) = x^{m} for some mZ+m \in \mathbb{Z}^{+} when nn is even and P(x)=±xmP(x) = \pm x^{m} when nn is odd. \square

Want a route through all this instead of an archive? The track puts 2,000 problems in a working order, from AMC 10 level to the IMO shortlist.

Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic and difficulty added by this site.