Maths Olympiad Prep

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Algebra Difficulty 5.5 AIME, harder Find the answer

SS is a set of complex numbers such that if u,vSu, v \in S, then uvSu v \in S and u2+v2Su^{2}+v^{2} \in S. Suppose that the number NN of elements of SS with absolute value at most 1 is finite. What is the largest possible value of NN ?

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

Solution

First, if SS contained some u0u \neq 0 with absolute value <1<1, then (by the first condition) every power of uu would be in SS, and SS would contain infinitely many different numbers of absolute value <1<1. This is a contradiction. Now suppose SS contains some number uu of absolute value 1 and argument θ\theta. If θ\theta is not an integer multiple of π/6\pi / 6, then uu has some power vv whose argument lies strictly between θ+π/3\theta+\pi / 3 and θ+π/2\theta+\pi / 2. Then u2+v2=u2(1+(v/u)2)u^{2}+v^{2}=u^{2}\left(1+(v / u)^{2}\right) has absolute value between 0 and 1 , since (v/u)2(v / u)^{2} lies on the unit circle with angle strictly between 2π/32 \pi / 3 and π\pi. But u2+v2Su^{2}+v^{2} \in S, so this is a contradiction. This shows that the only possible elements of SS with absolute value \leq 1 are 0 and the points on the unit circle whose arguments are multiples of π/6\pi / 6, giving N1+12=13N \leq 1+12=13. To show that N=13N=13 is attainable, we need to show that there exists a possible set SS containing all these points. Let TT be the set of all numbers of the form a+bωa+b \omega, where a,ba, b are integers are ω\omega is a complex cube root of 1 . Since ω2=1ω,T\omega^{2}=-1-\omega, T is closed under multiplication and addition. Then, if we let SS be the set of numbers uu such that u2T,Su^{2} \in T, S has the required properties, and it contains the 13 complex numbers specified, so we're in business.

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