Determine all polynomials with real coefficients such that
is a constant polynomial.
Solutions — 2
Solution 1
The answer is being any constant polynomial and for any (nonzero) constant and constant .
Let be the expression , i.e. the expression in the problem statement.
Substituting into yields and substituting into yields . Since is a constant polynomial, . Hence, .
Let and . Then . Hence, are roots of . Consequently, for some polynomial . Then , or equivalently, .
Substituting this into yield
This is a constant polynomial and simplifies to
Since this expression is a constant, so is . Therefore, as a polynomial. Therefore, for all . Then is a polynomial that takes on certain values for infinitely many values of . Let be such a value. Then has infinitely many roots, which can occur if and only if . Therefore, is identical to a constant . Hence, for some constant . Therefore, .
Finally, we verify that all such work. Substituting this into yields
Hence, is a solution to the given equation for any constant . Note that this solution also holds for . Hence, constant polynomials are also solutions to this equation.
Solution 2
As in Solution 1, any constant polynomial satisfies the given property. Hence, we will assume that is not a constant polynomial.
Let be the degree of . Since is not constant, . Let
with . Then
for some constant . We will compare the coefficient of of the left-hand side of this equation with the right-hand side. Since is a constant and , the coefficient of of the right-hand side is equal to zero. We now determine the coefficient of of the left-hand side of this expression.
The left-hand side of the equation simplifies to
We will determine the coefficient of each of these four terms.
By the Binomial Theorem, the coefficient of of the first term is equal to that of .
The coefficient of of the second term is equal to that of , which is .
The coefficient of of the third term is equal to and that of the fourth term is equal to .
Summing these four coefficients yield .
This expression is equal to 0. Since , . Hence, is a quadratic polynomial.
Let , where are real numbers with . Then
Simplifying the left-hand side yields
Therefore, and . Hence, . As in Solution 1, this is a valid solution for all .