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Bulgaria competition problems, 2022

Algebra Difficulty 6.0 National Olympiad Prove it Bulgaria

Let PP be a polynomial with real coefficients and such that for any positive integer nn the number P(n)P(n) is an integer. There exist distinct prime integers p1,p2,…,pkp_1, p_2, \dots, p_k such that for any positive integer nn the number P(n)P(n) is divisible by at least one of p1,…,pkp_1, \dots, p_k. Prove that there exists ii such that pip_i is a divisor of P(n)P(n) for all integers nn.

Solution

We prove first that PP has rational coefficients. Let dd be the degree of PP. Consider the numbers ai=P(i)a_i = P(i) for i=1,2,…,d+1i = 1, 2, \dots, d+1. Let
Q(x)=∑l=1d+1al∏i≠l,1≤i≤d+1x−il−i. Q(x) = \sum_{l=1}^{d+1} a_l \prod_{i \neq l, 1 \le i \le d+1} \frac{x-i}{l-i}.
Then the degree of QQ is at most dd and Q(i)=aiQ(i) = a_i for 1≤i≤d+11 \le i \le d+1 and since al∈Za_l \in \mathbb{Z} for all ll we have that QQ has rational coefficients. Since P(i)=Q(i)P(i) = Q(i) for i∈{1,2,…,d+1}i \in \{1, 2, \dots, d+1\} we conclude that any of 1,2,…,d+11, 2, \dots, d+1 is a root of the polynomial P(x)−Q(x)P(x) - Q(x) which is of degree at most dd. This implies that P(x)=Q(x)P(x) = Q(x) thus P∈Q[X]P \in \mathbb{Q}[X].

Choose a positive integer NN such that NP(x)=R(x)NP(x) = R(x) is a polynomial of integer coefficients and let N=p1α1⋯pkαkN = p_1^{\alpha_1} \cdots p_k^{\alpha_k} be where (N,p1p2⋯pk)=1(N, p_1p_2 \cdots p_k) = 1. Assume that there exist positive integers x1,x2,…,xkx_1, x_2, \dots, x_k, such that P(x1)P(x_1) is not divisible by plp_l for all l∈{1,2,…,k}l \in \{1, 2, \dots, k\}. It follows from Chinese remainder theorem that there exists a positive integer xx such that x≡xi(modpiαi+1)x \equiv x_i \pmod{p_i^{\alpha_i+1}} for i=1,2,…,ki = 1, 2, \dots, k. Therefore for any l∈{1,2,…,k}l \in \{1, 2, \dots, k\} we have that R(x)≡R(xl)(modplαl+1)R(x) \equiv R(x_l) \pmod{p_l^{\alpha_l+1}}, i.e. R(x)R(x) is divisible by plαlp_l^{\alpha_l} but is not divisible by plαl+1p_l^{\alpha_l+1}. The latter implies that P(x)=R(x)/NP(x) = R(x)/N is not divisible by plp_l for all l∈{1,2,…,k}l \in \{1, 2, \dots, k\}, a contradiction with the condition of the problem. We conclude that there exists mm such that pm∣P(n)p_m|P(n) for all n∈Nn \in \mathbb{N}.

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