Do there exist quadratic polynomials and with real coefficients such that the polynomial has exactly the roots and ?
Solution
Suppose such polynomials exist and write . If we plug in 2, 3, 5, and 7 into , exactly the (at most) two roots of must come out. Since there cannot be more than two identical values from (because is quadratic), we thus get two different values, each exactly twice.
Now suppose for different numbers and . Then , so , thus . Since , this implies , or .
We know that we can find two different pairs and from 2, 3, 5, and 7 such that and . Therefore, . 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 is odd. We conclude that there are no polynomials and with the desired properties.
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