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Algebra Difficulty 8.0 National Olympiad, round 2 Prove it Romania

Let PP and QQ be two real polynomials so that P(x)=Q(x)\lfloor P(x) \rfloor = \lfloor Q(x) \rfloor, for every xRx \in \mathbb{R}. Prove that P=QP = Q.

Solution

Let P(x)P(x) and Q(x)Q(x) be real polynomials such that P(x)=Q(x)\lfloor P(x) \rfloor = \lfloor Q(x) \rfloor for all xRx \in \mathbb{R}.

Suppose P(x)Q(x)P(x) \ne Q(x). Then P(x)Q(x)P(x) - Q(x) is a nonzero polynomial, so P(x)Q(x)P(x) - Q(x) is not identically zero. Thus, there exists x0Rx_0 \in \mathbb{R} such that P(x0)Q(x0)P(x_0) \ne Q(x_0).

Let d=P(x0)Q(x0)d = P(x_0) - Q(x_0). Then d0d \ne 0.

Consider the function f(x)=P(x)Q(x)f(x) = P(x) - Q(x). Since f(x)f(x) is a nonzero polynomial, it is continuous and unbounded (unless it is constant, in which case d0d \ne 0 everywhere).

Let ε=d/2>0\varepsilon = |d|/2 > 0. By continuity, there exists δ>0\delta > 0 such that for all xx with xx0<δ|x - x_0| < \delta, P(x)Q(x)d<ε|P(x) - Q(x) - d| < \varepsilon, i.e., P(x)Q(x)>d/2|P(x) - Q(x)| > |d|/2 in a neighborhood of x0x_0.

Now, since P(x)=Q(x)\lfloor P(x) \rfloor = \lfloor Q(x) \rfloor for all xx, it must be that P(x)P(x) and Q(x)Q(x) are always in the same unit interval, i.e., P(x)Q(x)(1,1)P(x) - Q(x) \in (-1, 1) for all xx.

But we have found a neighborhood of x0x_0 where P(x)Q(x)>d/2|P(x) - Q(x)| > |d|/2. If d1|d| \ge 1, then P(x)Q(x)>1/2|P(x) - Q(x)| > 1/2 in a neighborhood, and for some xx it will exceed 11, contradicting P(x)Q(x)(1,1)P(x) - Q(x) \in (-1, 1) for all xx.

If 0<d<10 < |d| < 1, then P(x0)P(x_0) and Q(x0)Q(x_0) are in the same unit interval, but since P(x)Q(x)P(x) - Q(x) is a nonzero polynomial, it is not constant, so for large xx, P(x)Q(x)|P(x) - Q(x)| will exceed 11, again contradicting P(x)Q(x)(1,1)P(x) - Q(x) \in (-1, 1) for all xx.

Therefore, P(x)Q(x)=0P(x) - Q(x) = 0 for all xx, i.e., P=QP = Q.

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