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Algebra Difficulty 7.5 National olympiad, round 2 Prove it Saudi Arabia

Let PQ[x]P \in \mathbb{Q}[x] be a polynomial of degree 20162016 whose leading coefficient is 11. A positive integer mm is "nice" if there exists some positive integer nn such that m=n3+3n+1m = n^{3} + 3n + 1. Suppose that there exist infinitely many positive integers nn such that P(n)P(n) are nice. Prove that there exists an arithmetic sequence (nk)\left(n_{k}\right) of arbitrary length such that P(nk)P\left(n_{k}\right) are all nice for k=1,2,3,k = 1, 2, 3, \ldots

Solution

For convenience, denote 3d=20163d = 2016.

Lemma. There exist a polynomial Q(x)Q[x]Q(x) \in \mathbb{Q}[x] such that
limx+[P(x)3Q(x)]=0 \lim_{x \rightarrow +\infty} [\sqrt[3]{P(x)} - Q(x)] = 0
Proof. Suppose that S(x)Q[x]S(x) \in \mathbb{Q}[x] is a polynomial such that deg(P(x)S3(x))\operatorname{deg}(P(x) - S^{3}(x)) is minimized (if there are many S(x)S(x) that satisfy, we choose one of them).
It is easy to check that:
- deg(P(x)S3(x))<degP(x)=3d\operatorname{deg}(P(x) - S^{3}(x)) < \operatorname{deg} P(x) = 3d.
- S(x)S(x) has leading coefficient 11.
- deg(P(x)S3(x))<2d\operatorname{deg}(P(x) - S^{3}(x)) < 2d.
For iii), denote P(x)S3(x)=alxl+al1xl1++a0P(x) - S^{3}(x) = a_{l} x^{l} + a_{l-1} x^{l-1} + \cdots + a_{0} and suppose by contradiction that l=deg(P(x)S3(x))2dl = \operatorname{deg}(P(x) - S^{3}(x)) \geq 2d. Consider polynomial S(x)=S(x)+al3xl2dS^*(x) = S(x) + \frac{a_{l}}{3} x^{l-2d} then
P(x)(S(x))3=(P(x)S3(x)alxl2dS2(x))(13al2x2l4dS(x)+127al3x3l6d). \begin{aligned} & P(x) - (S^*(x))^{3} = \\ & \left(P(x) - S^{3}(x) - a_{l} x^{l-2d} S^{2}(x)\right) - \left(\frac{1}{3} a_{l}^{2} x^{2l-4d} S(x) + \frac{1}{27} a_{l}^{3} x^{3l-6d}\right). \end{aligned}
The result is a polynomial of degree less than ll. This means
deg(P(x)(S(x))3)<l=deg(P(x)S3(x)) \operatorname{deg}(P(x) - (S^*(x))^{3}) < l = \operatorname{deg}(P(x) - S^{3}(x))
which is a contradiction. Then, take Q(x)=S(x)Q(x) = S(x) to get
P(x)3Q(x)=P(x)Q3(x)P2(x)3+P(x)3Q(x)+Q2(x) \sqrt[3]{P(x)} - Q(x) = \frac{P(x) - Q^{3}(x)}{\sqrt[3]{P^{2}(x)} + \sqrt[3]{P(x)} Q(x) + Q^{2}(x)}
From iii), we can see that
deg(P(x)3Q(x))<2d=deg(P2(x)3+P(x)3Q(x)+Q2(x)) \operatorname{deg}(\sqrt[3]{P(x)} - Q(x)) < 2d = \operatorname{deg}(\sqrt[3]{P^{2}(x)} + \sqrt[3]{P(x)} Q(x) + Q^{2}(x))
then limx+[P(x)3Q(x)]=0\lim_{x \rightarrow +\infty} [\sqrt[3]{P(x)} - Q(x)] = 0. The lemma is proved.

Since there exist infinitely many numbers aa such that P(a)P(a) is nice, we can choose some strictly increasing sequence of positive integers (an)\left(a_{n}\right) such that P(ai)P\left(a_{i}\right) are nice for all iNi \in \mathbb{N}^{*}.
Clearly, for each aia_{i}, there exists NiZ+N_{i} \in \mathbb{Z}^{+} such that P(ai)=Ni3+3Ni+1P\left(a_{i}\right) = N_{i}^{3} + 3N_{i} + 1.
Since limx+ai=+\lim_{x \rightarrow +\infty} a_{i} = +\infty, which implies that
limx+P(ai)=+ and limx+Ni=+ \lim_{x \rightarrow +\infty} P\left(a_{i}\right) = +\infty \text{ and } \lim_{x \rightarrow +\infty} N_{i} = +\infty
then
limx+[Ni3+3Ni+13Ni]=0 \lim_{x \rightarrow +\infty} [\sqrt[3]{N_{i}^{3} + 3N_{i} + 1} - N_{i}] = 0
Now, let Q(x)Q(x) be the polynomial described in the lemma.
Because Q(x)Q[x]Q(x) \in \mathbb{Q}[x], there exists a number MZ+M \in \mathbb{Z}^{+} such that MQ(x)Z[x]M \cdot Q(x) \in \mathbb{Z}[x]. We have
limi+M(Q(ai)Ni)=limi+M(Q(ai)P(ai)3+P(ai)3Ni)=0 \lim_{i \rightarrow +\infty} M(Q(a_{i}) - N_{i}) = \lim_{i \rightarrow +\infty} M(Q(a_{i}) - \sqrt[3]{P(a_{i})} + \sqrt[3]{P(a_{i})} - N_{i}) = 0
Hence, there is a number i0Z+i_{0} \in \mathbb{Z}^{+} such that
1<M(Q(ai)Ni)<1,i>i0. -1 < M(Q(a_{i}) - N_{i}) < 1, \forall i > i_{0}.
On the other hand, MQ(ai)ZM Q(a_{i}) \in \mathbb{Z}, NiZN_{i} \in \mathbb{Z} so M(Q(ai)Ni)=0M(Q(a_{i}) - N_{i}) = 0 for all i>i0i > i_{0}, then Q(ai)Ni=0P(ai)=Q3(ai)+3Q(ai)+1Q(a_{i}) - N_{i} = 0 \Leftrightarrow P(a_{i}) = Q^{3}(a_{i}) + 3 Q(a_{i}) + 1 for all i>i0i > i_{0}. This implies that P(x)=Q3(x)+3Q(x)+1P(x) = Q^{3}(x) + 3 Q(x) + 1 for all xRx \in \mathbb{R}.

Choose a number NN such that Q(x)>0,x>aNQ(x) > 0, \forall x > a_{N} then we will prove that the arithmetic sequence given by the formula nk=aN+Mkn_{k} = a_{N} + M k satisfies the given requirement.
It is needed to clarify Q(a1+Mk)Z+Q(a_{1} + M k) \in \mathbb{Z}^{+} for all kZ+k \in \mathbb{Z}^{+}.
Indeed, let R(x)=MQ(x)R(x) = M Q(x) then R(x)Z[x]R(x) \in \mathbb{Z}[x], then R(n1)=Ma1R(n_{1}) = M a_{1} is divisible by MM. So
(nkn1)R(nk)R(n1) (n_{k} - n_{1}) \mid R(n_{k}) - R(n_{1})
leads to MR(nk)M \mid R(n_{k}) for all kZ+k \in \mathbb{Z}^{+}. This finishes the proof.

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