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Combinatorics Difficulty 6.8 National olympiad Find the answer

Let P(x)P(x) be a nonzero polynomial of degree n>1n>1 with nonnegative coefficients such that function y=P(x)y=P(x) is odd. Is that possible thet for some pairwise distinct points A1,A2,AnA_{1}, A_{2}, \dots A_{n} on the graph G:y=P(x)G: y = P(x) the following conditions hold: tangent to GG at A1A_{1} passes through A2A_{2}, tangent to GG at A2A_{2} passes through A3A_{3}, \dots, tangent to GG at AnA_{n} passes through A1A_{1}?

Solution

1. Claim: The answer is no.

2. Reasoning: Since P(x) P(x) is an odd polynomial with nonnegative coefficients, it must be of the form:
P(x)=a2m+1x2m+1+a2m1x2m1++a1x P(x) = a_{2m+1}x^{2m+1} + a_{2m-1}x^{2m-1} + \cdots + a_1x
where ai0 a_i \geq 0 for all i i .

3. Derivative: The derivative of P(x) P(x) is:
Q(x)=P(x)=(2m+1)a2m+1x2m+(2m1)a2m1x2m2++a1 Q(x) = P'(x) = (2m+1)a_{2m+1}x^{2m} + (2m-1)a_{2m-1}x^{2m-2} + \cdots + a_1

4. Key Claim: Suppose (a,P(a)) (a, P(a)) and (b,P(b)) (b, P(b)) are consecutive points in the sequence. Then a a and b b must have different signs.

5. Proof: The tangent line at (a,P(a)) (a, P(a)) has the equation:
y=Q(a)(xa)+P(a) y = Q(a)(x - a) + P(a)
Substituting x=b x = b , we get:
P(b)=Q(a)(ba)+P(a) P(b) = Q(a)(b - a) + P(a)
Rearranging, we have:
Q(a)=P(b)P(a)ba Q(a) = \frac{P(b) - P(a)}{b - a}
Since P(x) P(x) is an odd function, we can write:
P(b)=a2m+1b2m+1+a2m1b2m1++a1b P(b) = a_{2m+1}b^{2m+1} + a_{2m-1}b^{2m-1} + \cdots + a_1b
and similarly for P(a) P(a) . Thus:
Q(a)=a2m+1b2m+1a2m+1ba+a2m1b2m1a2m1ba++a1 Q(a) = a_{2m+1} \frac{b^{2m+1} - a^{2m+1}}{b - a} + a_{2m-1} \frac{b^{2m-1} - a^{2m-1}}{b - a} + \cdots + a_1

6. Grouping Terms: Grouping the terms of degree 2m 2m together, we get:
(2m+1)a2mb2mb2m1aa2m (2m+1)a^{2m} - b^{2m} - b^{2m-1}a - \cdots - a^{2m}
Suppose a a and b b have the same sign. If a>b |a| > |b| , then the expression in the brackets is positive, and if a<b |a| < |b| , then the expression is negative.

7. Consistent Sign: Similarly, if we group the terms of degrees 2m2,2m4,,0 2m-2, 2m-4, \cdots, 0 together, we obtain a consistent sign for all the expressions, which means that the equation:
Q(a)P(b)P(a)ba=0 Q(a) - \frac{P(b) - P(a)}{b - a} = 0
has no solutions, leading to a contradiction.

8. Conclusion: Since n n is odd, this means that An A_n and A1 A_1 have to lie on the same side of the y y -axis, which is a contradiction.

\blacksquare

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Source: NuminaMath-1.5, licensed Apache-2.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic and difficulty added by this site.