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Algebra Difficulty 6.3 National Olympiad Prove it Thailand

Determine all monic polynomials p(x)p(x) with real coefficients satisfying the following properties:
1) p(x)p(x) is nonconstant and all its roots are real and distinct;
2) if aa and bb are roots of p(x)p(x), then so is a+b+aba + b + ab.

Solution

Let f(x)=x2+2xf(x) = x^2 + 2x and define fn=ffff^n = f \circ f \circ \dots \circ f (n1n-1 times). Let aa be a root of p(x)p(x). From the second property, we see that a,f(a),f2(a),a, f(a), f^2(a), \dots are also roots of p(x)p(x).

We subdivide the range of aa into four subintervals.

Case 1: If a>0a > 0, then 0<a<f(a)0 < a < f(a). Since ff is strictly increasing over the interval (0,)(0, \infty), we have a<f(a)<f2(a)<a < f(a) < f^2(a) < \dots.

Case 2: If 1<a<0-1 < a < 0, then 0>a>f(a)>10 > a > f(a) > -1. Since ff is strictly increasing over the interval (1,0)(-1, 0), we have a>f(a)>f2(a)>a > f(a) > f^2(a) > \dots.

Case 3: If 2<a<1-2 < a < -1, then 1<f(a)<0-1 < f(a) < 0. Substituting for aa by f(a)f(a) in Case 2, we get f(a)>f2(a)>f(a) > f^2(a) > \dots.

Case 4: If a<2a < -2, then f(a)>0f(a) > 0. Substituting for aa by f(a)f(a) in Case 1, we get f(a)<f2(a)<f(a) < f^2(a) < \dots.

From the four cases, we infer that if a{2,1,0}a \notin \{-2, -1, 0\}, then p(x)p(x) has infinitely many distinct roots, which is impossible. Hence, a{2,1,0}a \in \{-2, -1, 0\} and by direct checking all the possible p(x)p(x) are
x, x+1, x(x+1), x(x+2), x(x+1)(x+2). x,\ x+1,\ x(x+1),\ x(x+2),\ x(x+1)(x+2).

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