Olympiad Maths Prep

Library / /28 of 29

Algebra Difficulty 7.3 National olympiad, round 2 Prove it Iran

We call an integer number n>0n > 0 interesting if for each permutation σ\sigma of 1,2,,n1, 2, \dots, n there exist polynomials P1,P2,,PnP_1, P_2, \dots, P_n and ϵ>0\epsilon > 0 such that:
i) P1(0)=P2(0)==Pn(0). i)\ P_1(0) = P_2(0) = \dots = P_n(0).
ii) P1(x)>P2(x)>>Pn(x) for ϵ<x<0. ii)\ P_1(x) > P_2(x) > \dots > P_n(x) \text{ for } -\epsilon < x < 0.
iii) Pσ(1)(x)>Pσ(2)(x)>>Pσ(n)(x) for 0<x<ϵ. iii)\ P_{\sigma(1)}(x) > P_{\sigma(2)}(x) > \dots > P_{\sigma(n)}(x) \text{ for } 0 < x < \epsilon.
Find all interesting numbers.

Solution

Only n=2n = 2 and n=3n = 3 are interesting.

Note that if nn is not interesting, then any integer greater than nn is not interesting as well. So we just need to prove that n=4n = 4 is not interesting.

We claim that there is no such example for the case
P2(x)>P4(x)>P1(x)>P3(x) P_2(x) > P_4(x) > P_1(x) > P_3(x)
for infinitesimal positive number xx.

For the sake of contradiction, assume that there exists an example. Since Pi(x)P1(x)P_i(x) - P_1(x) also satisfies the inequality, assume that P1(x)=0P_1(x) = 0. Then by contradiction, every Pi(x)P_i(x) has constant term zero.

Now, P3(x)P_3(x) is always negative for values close to 00. Therefore, the term with the minimal degree in P3(x)P_3(x) is of the form ax2b-a x^{2b}, for some positive real number aa and positive integer bb. Analogously, for P2(x),P4(x)P_2(x), P_4(x), the terms of the minimal degrees are of the form ax2b1a x^{2b-1}, for some positive real number aa and positive integer bb. Let
P2(x)=a2x2b21+P3(x)=a3x2b3+P4(x)=a4x2b41+ \begin{align*} P_2(x) &= a_2 x^{2b_2-1} + \dots \\ P_3(x) &= -a_3 x^{2b_3} + \dots \\ P_4(x) &= a_4 x^{2b_4-1} + \dots \end{align*}
where every aia_i is a positive real number and every bjb_j is a positive integer. Since P2(x)>P3(x)>P4(x)P_2(x) > P_3(x) > P_4(x) for x<0x < 0, therefore
2b21>2b3>2b41    b2>b3>b4    P2(x)<P4(x), 2b_2 - 1 > 2b_3 > 2b_4 - 1 \implies b_2 > b_3 > b_4 \implies P_2(x) < P_4(x),
for all sufficiently small positive real numbers xx, contradicting the assumption P2(x)>P4(x)>0>P3(x)P_2(x) > P_4(x) > 0 > P_3(x).

But we claimed that n=2,3n = 2, 3 are interesting. The case n=2n = 2 is trivial and for n=3n = 3, we have
Pi(x)=xQi(x)+c. P_i(x) = x Q_i(x) + c.
If σ(i)=i\sigma(i) = i, we need to find polynomials QiQ_i such that Q1(x)<Q2(x)<Q3(x)Q_1(x) < Q_2(x) < Q_3(x) for x(ϵ,0)x \in (-\epsilon, 0) and Q1(x)>Q2(x)>Q3(x)Q_1(x) > Q_2(x) > Q_3(x) for x(0,ϵ)x \in (0, \epsilon). It's clear that linear polynomials will work.

If σ(1)=1,σ(2)=3\sigma(1) = 1, \sigma(2) = 3 and σ(3)=2\sigma(3) = 2, let Q1(x)=0Q_1(x) = 0 and Q2(x),Q3(x)Q_2(x), Q_3(x) be linear polynomials passing through point 00 with negative leading coefficient. Other permutations are the same and we're done. ■

Looking for a route rather than an archive? The track puts 2,000 problems in a working order, from AMC 10 level to the IMO shortlist.

Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic and difficulty added by this site.