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Algebra Difficulty 5.2 AIME, harder Prove it Taiwan

Let nn be an odd number greater than 1, and let f(x)f(x) be a polynomial of degree nn in xx. It is known that f(k)=2kf(k) = 2^k holds for k=0,1,,nk = 0, 1, \dots, n. Prove that the integers xx for which the value of f(x)f(x) is a power of 2 are only finitely many.

Solution

Since n+1n+1 values already uniquely determine a polynomial of degree nn, and
f(k)=2k=(1+1)k=C(k,0)+C(k,1)++C(k,n) f(k) = 2^k = (1+1)^k = C(k, 0) + C(k, 1) + \dots + C(k, n)
holds for k=0,1,,nk = 0, 1, \dots, n, while the right-hand side is a polynomial of degree nn, we know that
f(x)=C(x,0)+C(x,1)++C(x,n). f(x) = C(x, 0) + C(x, 1) + \dots + C(x, n).
Moreover, since nn is odd, pairing up terms two by two in the above expression, we obtain
f(x)=C(x+1,1)+C(x+1,3)++C(x+1,n)=(x+1)[1+13C(x,2)+15C(x,4)++1nC(x,n1)]. \begin{aligned} f(x) &= C(x + 1, 1) + C(x + 1, 3) + \dots + C(x + 1, n) \\ &= (x + 1) \left[ 1 + \frac{1}{3}C(x, 2) + \frac{1}{5}C(x, 4) + \dots + \frac{1}{n}C(x, n - 1) \right]. \end{aligned}
Let n!f(x)=(x+1)R(x)n!f(x) = (x+1)R(x); note that R(x)R(x) is a polynomial with integer coefficients. For all integers xx, we have
gcd(x+1,R(x))R(1)=n![1+13+15++1n]. \text{gcd}(x + 1, R(x)) \bigg|_{R(-1)} = n! \left[ 1 + \frac{1}{3} + \frac{1}{5} + \dots + \frac{1}{n} \right].
Note that R(1)R(-1) is a nonzero integer, so ν2(R(1))\nu_2(R(-1)) must be finite, where
ν2(m):=sup{k:2km}. \nu_2(m) := \sup \{k : 2^k | m\}.
In other words, we have
min{ν2(x+1),ν2(R(x))}=ν2(gcd(x+1,R(x)))ν2(R(1))<.(1) \begin{aligned} & \min\{\nu_2(x+1), \nu_2(R(x))\} \\ &= \nu_2(\text{gcd}(x+1, R(x))) \le \nu_2(R(-1)) < \infty. \end{aligned} \quad (1)

Now, suppose xx is an integer such that f(x)f(x) is a power of 2, then we have
x+1n!×2ν2(f(x))x + 1|n! \times 2^{\nu_2(f(x))} and R(x)n!×2ν2(f(x))R(x)|n! \times 2^{\nu_2(f(x))}. But by Eq. (1), this means that
x+1n!×2ν2(x+1)n!×2ν2(R(1))(2) x + 1 \left| n! \times 2^{\nu_2(x+1)} \right| n! \times 2^{\nu_2(R(-1))} \qquad (2)
and
R(x)n!×2ν2(R(x))n!×2ν2(R(1))(3) R(x) \left| n! \times 2^{\nu_2(R(x))} \right| n! \times 2^{\nu_2(R(-1))} \qquad (3)
at least one must hold. However, since
limxx+1=andlimxR(x)=, \lim_{|x| \to \infty} |x + 1| = \infty \quad \text{and} \quad \lim_{|x| \to \infty} |R(x)| = \infty,
it is easy to see that the xx satisfying at least one of Eq. (2) and Eq. (3) can be at most finitely many. This completes the proof.

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