Let σ1=a+b+c,σ2=ab+bc+ca and σ3=abc be the three elementary symmetric polynomials. Since a3+b3+c3 is a symmetric polynomial, it can be written as a polynomial in σ1,σ2 and σ3. Now, observe that σ1=0, and so we only need to worry about the terms not containing σ1. By considering the degrees of the terms, we see that the only possibility is σ3. That is, a3+b3+c3=kσ3 for some constant k. By setting a=b=1,c=−2, we see that k=3. By similar reasoning, we find that a5+b5+c5=hσ2σ3 for some constant h. By setting a=b=1 and c=−2, we get h=−5. So, we now know that a+b+c=0 implies a3+b3+c3=3abc and a5+b5+c5=−5abc(ab+bc+ca) Then a3+b3+c3=a5+b5+c5 implies that 3abc=−5abc(ab+bc+ca). Given that a,b,c are nonzero, we get ab+bc+ca=−53. Then, a2+b2+c2=(a+b+c)2−2(ab+bc+ca)=56.