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Algebra Difficulty 6.8 National olympiad Find the answer

Find all polynomials PP with integer coefficients such that P(0)0P (0)\ne 0 and Pn(m)Pm(n)P^n(m)\cdot P^m(n) is a square of an integer for all nonnegative integers n,mn, m.

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

Solution

We are tasked with finding all polynomials P(x) P(x) with integer coefficients such that P(0)0 P(0) \neq 0 and for all nonnegative integers n,m n, m , the expression Pn(m)Pm(n) P^n(m) \cdot P^m(n) is a square of an integer. The polynomial Pn(m) P^n(m) denotes the polynomial P P applied iteratively n n times to m m .

To solve the problem, we analyze the condition that for all nonnegative integers n n and m m , Pn(m)Pm(n) P^n(m) \cdot P^m(n) is a perfect square.

### Key Observations
1. Iterative Property: If P(x)=x+1 P(x) = x + 1 , then Pn(m)=m+n P^n(m) = m + n because each iteration increases the value by 1. Thus, Pn(m)Pm(n)=(m+n)(n+m)=(n+m)2 P^n(m) \cdot P^m(n) = (m+n) \cdot (n+m) = (n+m)^2 , which is clearly a perfect square.

2. General Polynomial Form: Consider P(x)=akxk+ak1xk1++a0 P(x) = a_k x^k + a_{k-1} x^{k-1} + \cdots + a_0 , where the ai a_i are integer coefficients.

- Degree: If P(x) P(x) has a degree greater than 1, i.e., k>1 k > 1 , then applying P P iteratively results in exponential growth, which makes Pn(m)Pm(n) P^n(m) \cdot P^m(n) unlikely to be a perfect square for arbitrary n,m n, m .

- Degree Zero Case: If P(x) P(x) is constant, then Pn(m) P^n(m) and Pm(n) P^m(n) will be constants, leading to Pn(m)Pm(n) P^n(m) \cdot P^m(n) not forming a consistent perfect square, violating the hypotheses.

### Concluding Based on Observations

Thus, the most simple and suitable polynomial of degree 1, which fits the condition for all nonnegative integers n n and m m , is P(x)=x+1 P(x) = x + 1 .

Therefore, the only polynomial P(x) P(x) satisfying all given conditions is:
x+1 \boxed{x + 1}
This choice works as verified above, illustrating that P(x)=x+1 P(x) = x + 1 consistently satisfies the condition of making Pn(m)Pm(n) P^n(m) \cdot P^m(n) a perfect square for all nonnegative integer values of n n and m m .

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