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Algebra Difficulty 6.1 National olympiad Prove it

Do there exist quadratic polynomials P(x)P(x) and Q(x)Q(x) with real coefficients such that the polynomial P(Q(x))P(Q(x)) has exactly the roots x=2,x=3,x=5x=2, x=3, x=5 and x=7x=7?

Solution

Suppose such polynomials exist and write Q(x)=ax2+bx+cQ(x)=a x^{2}+b x+c. If we plug in 2, 3, 5, and 7 into QQ, exactly the (at most) two roots of PP must come out. Since there cannot be more than two identical values from Q(x)Q(x) (because QQ is quadratic), we thus get two different values, each exactly twice.
Now suppose Q(n)=Q(m)Q(n)=Q(m) for different numbers mm and nn. Then an2+bn+c=am2+bm+ca n^{2}+b n+c = a m^{2}+b m+c, so a(n2m2)=b(mn)a\left(n^{2}-m^{2}\right)=b(m-n), thus a(n+m)(nm)=b(nm)a(n+m)(n-m)=-b(n-m). Since mn0m-n \neq 0, this implies a(n+m)=ba(n+m)=-b, or n+m=ban+m=\frac{-b}{a}.
We know that we can find two different pairs (m,n)(m, n) and (k,l)(k, l) from 2, 3, 5, and 7 such that Q(m)=Q(n)Q(m)=Q(n) and Q(k)=Q(l)Q(k)=Q(l). Therefore, m+n=ba=k+lm+n=\frac{-b}{a}=k+l. We must thus be able to divide the four numbers 2, 3, 5, and 7 into two pairs that have the same sum. This is impossible, however, since 2+3+5+7=172+3+5+7=17 is odd. We conclude that there are no polynomials PP and QQ with the desired properties.

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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.