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Algebra Difficulty 5.0 AIME Find the answer

23. (CZS 4) Find all complex numbers mm such that polynomial
x3+y3+z3+mxyz x^{3}+y^{3}+z^{3}+m x y z
can be represented as the product of three linear trinomials.

A number or a short expression. Spacing and $ signs are ignored.

Solution

23. We may assume w.l.o.g. that in all the factors the coefficient of xx is 1. Suppose that x+ay+bzx + a y + b z is one of the linear factors of p(x,y,z)=x3+y3+z3+mxyzp(x, y, z) = x^3 + y^3 + z^3 + m x y z. Then p(x)p(x) is 0 at every point (x,y,z)(x, y, z) with z=axbyz = -a x - b y. Hence x3+y3+(axby)3+mxy(axby)=(1a3)x3(3ab+m)(ax+by)xy+(1b3)y30x^3 + y^3 + (-a x - b y)^3 + m x y (-a x - b y) = (1 - a^3) x^3 - (3 a b + m)(a x + b y) x y + (1 - b^3) y^3 \equiv 0. This is obviously equivalent to a3=b3=1a^3 = b^3 = 1 and m=3abm = -3 a b, from which it follows that m{3,3ω,3ω2}m \in \{-3, -3 \omega, -3 \omega^2\}, where ω=1+i32\omega = \frac{-1 + i \sqrt{3}}{2}. Conversely, for each of the three possible values for mm there are exactly three possibilities (a,b)(a, b). Hence 3,3ω,3ω2-3, -3 \omega, -3 \omega^2 are the desired values.

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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.