AlgebraDifficulty 4.8AIMEFind the answerUnited States
Problem: Find the sum of squares of all distinct complex numbers x satisfying the equation 0=4x10−7x9+5x8−8x7+12x6−12x5+12x4−8x3+5x2−7x+4
A number or a short expression. Fractions can be typed as 3/2, and spacing doesn't matter.
Solution
Solution: Answer: −167
For convenience denote the polynomial by P(x). Notice 4+8=7+5=12 and that the consecutive terms 12x6−12x5+12x4 are the leading terms of 12Φ14(x), which is suggestive. Indeed, consider ω a primitive 14-th root of unity; since ω7=−1, we have 4ω10=−4ω3, −7ω9=7ω2, and so on, so that P(ω)=12(ω6−ω5+⋯+1)=12Φ14(ω)=0 Dividing, we find P(x)=Φ14(x)(4x4−3x3−2x2−3x+4) This second polynomial is symmetric; since 0 is clearly not a root, we have 4x4−3x3−2x2−3x+4=0⟺4(x+x1)2−3(x+x1)−10=0 Setting y=x+1/x and solving the quadratic gives y=2 and y=−5/4 as solutions; replacing y with x+1/x and solving the two resulting quadratics give the double root x=1 and the roots (−5±i39)/8 respectively. Together with the primitive fourteenth roots of unity, these are all the roots of our polynomial.
Explicitly, the roots are eπi/7,e3πi/7,e5πi/7,e9πi/7,e11πi/7,e13πi/7,1,(−5±i39)/8 The sum of squares of the roots of unity (including 1) is just 0 by symmetry (or a number of other methods). The sum of the squares of the final conjugate pair is 822(52−39)=−3214=−167.
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