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Algebra Difficulty 6.4 National Olympiad Prove it United States

Problem:
Find all polynomials ff that satisfy the equation
f(3x)f(x)=729(x3)x243 \frac{f(3x)}{f(x)} = \frac{729(x-3)}{x-243}
for infinitely many real values of xx.

Solution

Solution:
The above equation holds for infinitely many xx if and only if
(x243)f(3x)=729(x3)f(x) (x-243) f(3x) = 729(x-3) f(x)
for all xCx \in \mathbb{C}, because (x243)f(3x)729(x3)f(x)(x-243) f(3x) - 729(x-3) f(x) is a polynomial, which has infinitely many zeroes if and only if it is identically 00.

We now plug in different values to find various zeroes of ff:
x=3f(9)=0x=9f(27)=0x=27f(81)=0x=81f(243)=0 \begin{aligned} x=3 & \Longrightarrow f(9)=0 \\ x=9 & \Longrightarrow f(27)=0 \\ x=27 & \Longrightarrow f(81)=0 \\ x=81 & \Longrightarrow f(243)=0 \end{aligned}
We may write f(x)=(x243)(x81)(x27)(x9)p(x)f(x) = (x-243)(x-81)(x-27)(x-9) p(x) for some polynomial p(x)p(x). We want to solve
(x243)(3x243)(3x81)(3x27)(3x9)p(3x)=729(x3)(x243)(x81)(x27)(x9)p(x). \begin{aligned} & (x-243)(3x-243)(3x-81)(3x-27)(3x-9) p(3x) \\ & \quad = 729(x-3)(x-243)(x-81)(x-27)(x-9) p(x). \end{aligned}
Dividing out common factors from both sides, we get p(3x)=9p(x)p(3x) = 9 p(x), so the polynomial pp is homogeneous of degree 22. Therefore p(x)=ax2p(x) = a x^{2} and thus f(x)=a(x243)(x81)(x27)(x9)x2f(x) = a(x-243)(x-81)(x-27)(x-9)x^{2}, where aCa \in \mathbb{C} is arbitrary.

Alternative solution:
As above, we wish to find polynomials ff such that
(x243)f(3x)=729(x3)f(x). (x-243) f(3x) = 729(x-3) f(x).
Suppose ff is such a polynomial and let ZZ be its multiset of zeroes.
Both (x243)f(3x)(x-243) f(3x) and 729(x3)f(x)729(x-3) f(x) have the same multiset of zeroes, i.e. {243}13Z={3}Z\{243\} \cup \frac{1}{3} Z = \{3\} \cup Z or {729}Z={9}3Z\{729\} \cup Z = \{9\} \cup 3Z. Thus
9Z273Z27Z813Z81Z2433Z243Z \begin{aligned} 9 \in Z & \Rightarrow 27 \in 3Z \\ & \Rightarrow 27 \in Z \\ & \Rightarrow 81 \in 3Z \\ & \Rightarrow 81 \in Z \\ & \Rightarrow 243 \in 3Z \\ & \Rightarrow 243 \in Z \end{aligned}
Let YY be the unique multiset with Z={9,27,81,243}YZ = \{9,27,81,243\} \cup Y. This gives
{9,27,81,243,729}Y={9,27,81,243,729}3Y \{9,27,81,243,729\} \cup Y = \{9,27,81,243,729\} \cup 3Y
so YCY \subset \mathbb{C} is a finite multiset, invariant under multiplication by 33. It follows that Y={0,0,,0}Y = \{0,0,\ldots,0\} with some multiplicity kk. Hence
f(x)=axk(x9)(x27)(x81)(x243) f(x) = a x^{k}(x-9)(x-27)(x-81)(x-243)
for some constant aCa \in \mathbb{C}. Plugging this back into the original equation, we see that k=2k=2 and that aCa \in \mathbb{C} can be arbitrary.

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