Maths Olympiad Prep

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Number theory Difficulty 5.2 AIME, harder Find the answer Italy

Problem:

Let P(X)=anXn+an1Xn1++a1X+a0P(X) = a_{n} X^{n} + a_{n-1} X^{n-1} + \ldots + a_{1} X + a_{0} be a polynomial with integer coefficients (that is, the numbers an,an1,,a1,a0a_{n}, a_{n-1}, \ldots, a_{1}, a_{0} are integers). If P(2000)=2000P(2000) = 2000 and P(2001)=2001P(2001) = 2001, how many of the numbers 2000,2001,2002,2003,20042000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 can be equal to P(2002)P(2002)?

Pick one

Solution

Solution:

The answer is (C). We first observe that the numbers 20012001 and 20032003 are not possible, since they are odd numbers. Indeed, since P(2000)=an2000n+an12000n1++a12000+a0=2000P(2000) = a_{n} 2000^{n} + a_{n-1} 2000^{n-1} + \cdots + a_{1} 2000 + a_{0} = 2000 is an even number, a0a_{0} must be an even number, and consequently, computing the value of the polynomial at any even number 2k2k, we get that P(2k)=an(2k)n+an1(2k)n1++a1(2k)+a0P(2k) = a_{n} (2k)^{n} + a_{n-1} (2k)^{n-1} + \cdots + a_{1} (2k) + a_{0} must be even.

Conversely, it is easy to construct examples in which the other values can be obtained:

if P(X)=2001(X2001)2,P(2002)=2000;if P(X)=X,P(2002)=2002;if P(X)=(X2000)2+2000,P(2002)=2004.\begin{aligned} \text{if } P(X) = 2001 - (X - 2001)^{2}, & \quad P(2002) = 2000 ; \\ \text{if } P(X) = X, & \quad P(2002) = 2002 ; \\ \text{if } P(X) = (X - 2000)^{2} + 2000, & \quad P(2002) = 2004 . \end{aligned}

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement translated into English from it; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.