Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / /8 of 16

Algebra Difficulty 5.5 AIME, harder Find the answer Italy

Problem:

Given the polynomial
(x2+5x19)50=a0+a1x+a2x2++a100x100, \left(x^{2}+5 x-19\right)^{50}=a_{0}+a_{1} x+a_{2} x^{2}+\cdots+a_{100} x^{100},
consider the quantity
M=a0a1+4a29a3+16a481a5+64a6729a7++298a98398a99+2100a100 M=a_{0}-a_{1}+4 a_{2}-9 a_{3}+16 a_{4}-81 a_{5}+64 a_{6}-729 a_{7}+\cdots+2^{98} a_{98}-3^{98} a_{99}+2^{100} a_{100}
in which the coefficient of a2ka_{2 k} is 22k2^{2 k} and the coefficient of a2k+1a_{2 k+1} is 32k-3^{2 k}. What is the greatest power of 5 that divides MM?

Pick one

Solution

Solution:

The answer is (D)(\mathbf{D}). Let p(x)p(x) be the polynomial; p(1)p(1) is the sum of all the coefficients and p(1)p(-1) is the alternating sum of the coefficients, those of even index with a positive sign and those of odd index with a negative sign. Consequently, p(1)+p(1)p(1)+p(-1) is twice the sum of the coefficients of even index, while p(1)p(1)p(1)-p(-1) is twice the sum of the coefficients of odd index.

However, we observe that in MM there appear, as coefficients of the aka_{k} of even index, the powers 22k2^{2 k}, while as coefficient of a2k+1a_{2 k+1} there appears 32k3^{2 k}.

Let us then consider
p(2)+p(2)=2(a0+22a2++298a98+2100a100)p(3)p(3)=2(3a1+33a3++397a97+399a99). \begin{aligned} & p(2)+p(-2)=2\left(a_{0}+2^{2} a_{2}+\ldots+2^{98} a_{98}+2^{100} a_{100}\right) \\ & p(3)-p(-3)=2\left(3 a_{1}+3^{3} a_{3}+\ldots+3^{97} a_{97}+3^{99} a_{99}\right) . \end{aligned}
Hence
M=12(p(2)+p(2))16(p(3)p(3))=12((5)50+(25)50)16(550(25)50)=550(550+12+55016). \begin{aligned} M & =\frac{1}{2}(p(2)+p(-2))-\frac{1}{6}(p(3)-p(-3)) \\ & =\frac{1}{2}\left((-5)^{50}+(-25)^{50}\right)-\frac{1}{6}\left(5^{50}-(-25)^{50}\right) \\ & =5^{50}\left(\frac{5^{50}+1}{2}+\frac{5^{50}-1}{6}\right) . \end{aligned}
At this point we have factored out 5505^{50}, and to conclude it suffices to observe that the quantity in parentheses is an integer (550+15^{50}+1 is even, as is 55015^{50}-1, which is also a multiple of 3) and is not a multiple of 5 (because 4550+24 \cdot 5^{50}+2 is not a multiple of 5).

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 translated into English from it; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.