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Algebra Difficulty 7.2 National olympiad, round 2 Find the answer

Determine all pairs of positive integers (m,n)(m,n) such that (1+xn+x2n++xmn)(1+x^n+x^{2n}+\cdots+x^{mn}) is divisible by (1+x+x2++xm)(1+x+x^2+\cdots+x^{m}) .

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

Solution

Denote the first and larger polynomial to be f(x)f(x) and the second one to be g(x)g(x) . In order for f(x)f(x) to be divisible by g(x)g(x) they must have the same roots. The roots of g(x)g(x) are the (m+1)th roots of unity, except for 1. When plugging into f(x)f(x) , the root of unity is a root of f(x)f(x) if and only if the terms xn,x2n,x3n,xmnx^n, x^{2n}, x^{3n}, \cdots x^{mn} all represent a different (m+1)th root of unity not equal to 1.
Note that if gcd(m+1,n)=1\\gcd(m+1,n)=1 , the numbers n,2n,3n,,mnn, 2n, 3n, \cdots, mn represent a complete set of residues minus 0 modulo m+1m+1 . However, if gcd(m+1,n)=agcd(m+1,n)=a not equal to 1, then (m+1)(n)a\frac{(m+1)(n)}{a} is congruent to 0(modm+1)0 \pmod {m+1} and thus a complete set is not formed. Therefore, f(x)f(x) divides g(x)g(x) if and only if gcd(m+1,n)=1.\boxed{\\gcd(m+1,n)=1}. \blacksquare

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