Problem:
Let be a polynomial with integer coefficients (that is, the numbers are integers). If and , how many of the numbers can be equal to ?
Problem:
Let be a polynomial with integer coefficients (that is, the numbers are integers). If and , how many of the numbers can be equal to ?
Pick one
Solution:
The answer is (C). We first observe that the numbers and are not possible, since they are odd numbers. Indeed, since is an even number, must be an even number, and consequently, computing the value of the polynomial at any even number , we get that must be even.
Conversely, it is easy to construct examples in which the other values can be obtained: