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Algebra Difficulty 8.7 Shortlist Prove it United States

A polynomial P(x)P(x) is called nice if P(0)=1P(0) = 1 and the nonzero coefficients of P(x)P(x) alternate between 11 and 1-1 when written in order. Suppose P(x)P(x) is nice, and let mm and nn be two relatively prime positive integers. Show that
Q(x)=P(xn)(xmn1)(x1)(xm1)(xn1) Q(x) = P(x^n) \cdot \frac{(x^{mn} - 1)(x - 1)}{(x^m - 1)(x^n - 1)}
is nice as well.

Solution

Q(x)Q(x) is a polynomial, so Q(x)Q(x) is as well.

We now establish a lemma giving an alternate characterization of nice polynomials.

Lemma 2. If P(x)P(x) is a polynomial with constant term 1, then P(x)P(x) is nice if and only if each nonzero term in the power series expansion of P(x)/(1x)P(x)/(1-x) has coefficient 1.

Proof. Suppose that P(x)=a0+a1x+P(x) = a_0 + a_1x + \cdots. Notice that the power series of P(x)P(x) has coefficients
P(x)1x=b0+b1x+b2x2+=a0+(a0+a1)x+(a0+a1+a2)x2+ \frac{P(x)}{1-x} = b_0 + b_1x + b_2x^2 + \cdots = a_0 + (a_0 + a_1)x + (a_0 + a_1 + a_2)x^2 + \cdots
given by the partial sums of the coefficients of P(x)P(x). (In particular, this means that the coefficients of the power series of P(x)1x\frac{P(x)}{1-x} are eventually constant.) Because P(0)=1P(0) = 1, we have b0=a0=1b_0 = a_0 = 1.

Now, if P(x)P(x) is nice, then because the nonzero coefficients of P(x)P(x) alternate between 1 and 1-1, the partial sums of the coefficients of P(x)P(x) take value either 0 or 1. This means exactly that bi{0,1}b_i \in \{0, 1\}, hence all non-zero coefficients of the power series for P(x)1x\frac{P(x)}{1-x} are equal to 1, as desired.

On the other hand, if bi{0,1}b_i \in \{0, 1\}, we see that ai=bibi1{1,0,1}a_i = b_i - b_{i-1} \in \{-1, 0, 1\}. Explicitly, this means that
ai={1bi>bi10bi=bi11bi<bi1. a_i = \begin{cases} 1 & b_i > b_{i-1} \\ 0 & b_i = b_{i-1} \\ -1 & b_i < b_{i-1} \end{cases}.
Because bib_i takes at most two values, among ii for which bibi1b_i \neq b_{i-1}, the first and last cases alternate, which implies exactly that P(x)P(x) is nice. This completes the proof of the lemma. \square

We now turn to the problem proper. Because P(0)=1P(0) = 1, it follows that Q(0)=1Q(0) = 1. Thus, by Lemma 2, it suffices to show that all nonzero terms in the power series for
Q(x)1x=P(xn)1xn1xmn1xm \frac{Q(x)}{1-x} = \frac{P(x^n)}{1-x^n} \cdot \frac{1-x^{mn}}{1-x^m}
have coefficient 1. Again by Lemma 2, all nonzero terms in the power series of P(x)/(1x)P(x)/(1-x) have coefficient 1, so the same is true for P(xn)1xn\frac{P(x^n)}{1-x^n}. Further, all the nonzero terms of the power series expansion of P(xn)1xn\frac{P(x^n)}{1-x^n} have exponents congruent to 0 modulo nn. Now, because mm and nn are relatively prime, 1xmn1xm\frac{1-x^{mn}}{1-x^m} is a polynomial whose nonzero coefficients are equal to 1 and whose nonzero terms have exponents with distinct residues modulo nn. Therefore, each nonzero term in the power series expansion of Q(x)1x\frac{Q(x)}{1-x} may be expressed in a unique way as the product of a nonzero term in the power series of P(xn)1xn\frac{P(x^n)}{1-x^n} and a nonzero term in 1xmn1xm\frac{1-x^{mn}}{1-x^m}, hence each such term has coefficient 1. So Q(x)Q(x) is nice by Lemma 2.

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