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Algebra Difficulty 6.6 National olympiad Find the answer

P(x)P(x) is a polynomial of degree 3n3n such that
\text{} P(0) = P(3) = \cdots &=& P(3n) = 2, \\ P(1) = P(4) = \cdots &=& P(3n-2) = 1, \\ P(2) = P(5) = \cdots &=& P(3n-1) = 0, \quad\text{} and {}\\ && P(3n+1) = 730.\text{730.}
Determine nn .

A number or a short expression. Fractions can be typed as 3/2, and spacing doesn't matter.

Solution

By Lagrange Interpolation Formula f(x)=2p=0n(0r3p3nxr3pr)+p=1n(0r3p23nxr3p2r)f(x) = 2\sum_{p=0}^{n}\left ( \prod_{0\leq r\neq3p\leq 3n}^{{}}\frac{x-r}{3p-r} \right )+ \sum_{p=1}^{n}\left ( \prod_{0\leq r\neq3p-2\leq 3n}^{{}} \frac{x-r}{3p-2-r}\right )
and hence f(3n+1)=2p=0n(0r3p3n3n+1r3pr)+p=1n(0r3p23n3n+1r3p2r)f(3n+1) = 2\sum_{p=0}^{n}\left ( \prod_{0\leq r\neq3p\leq 3n}^{{}}\frac{3n+1-r}{3p-r} \right )+ \sum_{p=1}^{n}\left ( \prod_{0\leq r\neq3p-2\leq 3n}^{{}} \frac{3n+1-r}{3p-2-r}\right )
after some calculations we get f(3n+1)=((3n+10)(3n+13)+(3n+16)...)(2.(1)3n1)+1f(3n+1) =\left ( \binom{3n+1}{0}- \binom{3n+1}{3}+\binom{3n+1}{6}- ... \right )\left ( 2.(-1)^{3n}-1 \right )+1
Given f(3n+1)=730f(3n+1)= 730 so we have to find nn such that ((3n+10)(3n+13)+(3n+16)...)(2.(1)3n1)=729\left ( \binom{3n+1}{0}- \binom{3n+1}{3}+\binom{3n+1}{6}- ... \right )\left ( 2.(-1)^{3n}-1 \right )= 729
Lemma: If pp is even (p0)(p3)+(p6)=2p+1sinp(π3)(i)p(cos(pπ3))3\binom{p}{0}- \binom{p}{3}+ \binom{p}{6}- \cdots = \frac{2^{p+1}sin^{p}\left ( \frac{\pi}{3} \right )(i)^{p}\left ( cos\left ( \frac{p\pi}{3} \right ) \right )}{3}
and if pp is odd (p0)(p3)+(p6)=2p+1sinp(π3)(i)p+1(sin(pπ3))3\binom{p}{0}- \binom{p}{3}+ \binom{p}{6}- \cdots = \frac{-2^{p+1}sin^{p}\left ( \frac{\pi}{3} \right )(i)^{p+1}\left ( sin\left ( \frac{p\pi}{3} \right ) \right )}{3}
ii is 1\sqrt{-1} Using above lemmas we do not get any solution when nn is odd, but when nn is even 3n+1=133n+1=13 satisfies the required condition, hence n=4n=4

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Source: Omni-MATH, licensed Apache-2.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic and difficulty added by this site.