302. Prove that the polynomial cannot be represented as a product of two polynomials: one in the variable and one in the variable .
Solution
302. Let the polynomials and have free terms (i.e., ) and . Set the variable to 0 in the equation ; then we get , i.e., ; thus, equals for all , i.e., it is a constant (a polynomial of degree zero). Similarly, it can be shown that , i.e., . The obtained contradiction proves the statement of the problem.
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