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Algebra Difficulty 6.2 National olympiad Find the answer

In the polynomial x418x3+kx2+200x1984=0x^4 - 18x^3 + kx^2 + 200x - 1984 = 0 , the product of 22 of its roots is 32- 32 . Find kk .

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

Solution

Using Vieta's formulas, we have:
\begin{align*}a+b+c+d &= 18,\\ ab+ac+ad+bc+bd+cd &= k,\\ abc+abd+acd+bcd &=-200,\\ abcd &=-1984.\\ \end{align*}
From the last of these equations, we see that cd=abcdab=198432=62cd = \frac{abcd}{ab} = \frac{-1984}{-32} = 62 . Thus, the second equation becomes 32+ac+ad+bc+bd+62=k-32+ac+ad+bc+bd+62=k , and so ac+ad+bc+bd=k30ac+ad+bc+bd=k-30 . The key insight is now to factor the left-hand side as a product of two binomials: (a+b)(c+d)=k30(a+b)(c+d)=k-30 , so that we now only need to determine a+ba+b and c+dc+d rather than all four of a,b,c,da,b,c,d .
Let p=a+bp=a+b and q=c+dq=c+d . Plugging our known values for abab and cdcd into the third Vieta equation, 200=abc+abd+acd+bcd=ab(c+d)+cd(a+b)-200 = abc+abd + acd + bcd = ab(c+d) + cd(a+b) , we have 200=32(c+d)+62(a+b)=62p32q-200 = -32(c+d) + 62(a+b) = 62p-32q . Moreover, the first Vieta equation, a+b+c+d=18a+b+c+d=18 , gives p+q=18p+q=18 . Thus we have two linear equations in pp and qq , which we solve to obtain p=4p=4 and q=14q=14 .
Therefore, we have (a+b4)(c+d14)=k30(\underbrace{a+b}_4)(\underbrace{c+d}_{14}) = k-30 , yielding k=414+30=86k=4\cdot 14+30 = \boxed{86} .

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