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Algebra Difficulty 7.8 National olympiad, round 2 Prove it

Let p>3p > 3 be a prime number, and let FpF_p denote the (fi\fnite) set of residue classes modulo pp.
Let SdS_d denote the set of 22-variable polynomials P(x,y)P(x, y) with coefficients in FpF_p, total degree d\le d, and satisfying P(x,y)=P(y,xy)P(x, y) = P(y,- x -y). Show that Sd=p(d+1)(d+2)/6|S_d| = p^{\lceil (d+1)(d+2)/6 \rceil}.
*The total degree of a 22-variable polynomial P(x,y)P(x, y) is the largest value of i+ji + j among monomials xiyjx^iy^j
* appearing in PP.

Solution

1. Define Exquisite Polynomials:
A polynomial P(x,y) P(x, y) is called exquisite if it satisfies P(x,y)=P(y,xy) P(x, y) = P(y, -x - y) .

2. Homogeneous Polynomials:
Let g(d) g(d) be the number of linearly independent homogeneous exquisite polynomials of degree d d up to a constant. We need to show that:
l=0dg(l)=(d+1)(d+2)6 \sum_{l=0}^d g(l) = \left\lceil \frac{(d+1)(d+2)}{6} \right\rceil
This implies that a generic exquisite polynomial can be expressed as a linear combination of these homogeneous parts.

3. Crucial Claim:
If we let U=x2+xy+y2 U = x^2 + xy + y^2 , V=xy(x+y) V = xy(x + y) , and W=x33xy2y3 W = x^3 - 3xy^2 - y^3 , then P P is exquisite if and only if it can be written as Q(U,V,W) Q(U, V, W) , where the degree of U U is 2 \leq 2 .

4. Implication:
- U,V,W U, V, W are all exquisite, so Q(U,V,W) Q(U, V, W) is exquisite as well.
- For the other direction, we construct Q Q from P P by induction on n n .

5. Observation:
If yP y \mid P , then VP V \mid P . This follows from P(x,y)=P(y,xy)=P(xy,x) P(x, y) = P(y, -x - y) = P(-x - y, x) .

6. Induction Base Cases:
The base cases n3 n \leq 3 can be verified by hand.

7. Induction Step:
Assume n4 n \geq 4 . Let n=3k+2j n = 3k + 2j with k0 k \geq 0 and j{0,1,2} j \in \{0, 1, 2\} . If P P is exquisite and the coefficient of xn x^n is a a , then:
PaUjWk P - aU^jW^k
is exquisite and divisible by y y , so it is a multiple of V V . Thus, we have:
P=aUjVk+VP P = aU^jV^k + VP'
where P P' is exquisite and has degree n3 n - 3 . By the inductive hypothesis, there is a Q(U,V,W)=P(x,y) Q(U, V, W) = P'(x, y) , which implies that P P can be written in that form as well. This procedure ensures that the degree of U U in the resulting polynomial is 2 \leq 2 .

8. Counting:
Observe that Vk,Vk1W,,Wk V^k, V^{k-1}W, \ldots, W^k are all linearly independent. Therefore, UjVk,UjVk1W,,UjWk U^jV^k, U^jV^{k-1}W, \ldots, U^jW^k are also linearly independent. Since the crucial claim tells us that their linear combinations span the space of degree n n exquisite polynomials, we get:
g(3k+2j)=k+1 g(3k + 2j) = k + 1
and g(1)=0 g(1) = 0 . From this, the conclusion follows.

9. Remark:
The characterization of exquisite polynomials remains the same if Fp F_p is replaced by any field with characteristic 3 \neq 3 . For fields with characteristic 3 3 , the exquisite polynomials are generated by xy x - y and xy(x+y) xy(x + y) . In the case of F3 F_3 , the answer would be:
Sd=3(d+1)(d+3)4 |S_d| = 3^{\left\lceil \frac{(d+1)(d+3)}{4} \right\rceil}

\blacksquare

The final answer is p(d+1)(d+2)/6 \boxed{ p^{\lceil (d+1)(d+2)/6 \rceil} }

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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.