Maths Olympiad Prep

Track / Stage 6 / 287 of 400 #1287 of 1964

Problem 1287

National olympiad, first round
Number theory Difficulty 6.5 Find the answer

Let P(x)P(x) be a polynomial of degree at most 20182018 such that P(i)=(2018i)P(i)=\binom{2018}i for all integer ii such that 0i20180\le i\le 2018. Find the largest nonnegative integer nn such that 2nP(2020)2^n\mid P(2020).

[i]Proposed by Michael Ren

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

Official solution

1. Understanding the Problem:
We are given a polynomial P(x) P(x) of degree at most 2018 such that P(i)=(2018i) P(i) = \binom{2018}{i} for all integers i i where 0i2018 0 \leq i \leq 2018 . We need to find the largest nonnegative integer n n such that 2n 2^n divides P(2020) P(2020) .

2. Using Finite Differences:
The polynomial P(x) P(x) can be expressed in terms of binomial coefficients. We use the property of finite differences to find P(2020) P(2020) .

3. Applying the Binomial Theorem:
We know that:
ΔkP(x)=i=0k(1)i(ki)P(x+i) \Delta^k P(x) = \sum_{i=0}^{k} (-1)^i \binom{k}{i} P(x+i)
where ΔkP(x) \Delta^k P(x) is the k k -th finite difference of P(x) P(x) .

4. **Calculating P(2020) P(2020) :**
We need to evaluate P(2020) P(2020) using the given values P(i)=(2018i) P(i) = \binom{2018}{i} . We use the fact that:
P(2020)=i=02018(1)i(2019i)(2018i) P(2020) = \sum_{i=0}^{2018} (-1)^i \binom{2019}{i} \binom{2018}{i}

5. Simplifying the Expression:
We simplify the expression using properties of binomial coefficients:
P(2020)=i=02018(1)i(2019i)(2018i) P(2020) = \sum_{i=0}^{2018} (-1)^i \binom{2019}{i} \binom{2018}{i}

6. Using Lucas' Theorem:
To find the largest power of 2 dividing P(2020) P(2020) , we use Lucas' Theorem, which states that for nonnegative integers m m and n n and a prime p p :
(mn)i=0k(mini)(modp) \binom{m}{n} \equiv \prod_{i=0}^{k} \binom{m_i}{n_i} \pmod{p}
where mi m_i and ni n_i are the digits of m m and n n in base p p .

7. **Applying Lucas' Theorem for p=2 p = 2 :**
We need to find the power of 2 in the binomial coefficients:
(2019i) and (2018i) \binom{2019}{i} \text{ and } \binom{2018}{i}
We use the fact that the power of 2 in (nk) \binom{n}{k} is given by the number of carries in the binary addition of k k and nk n-k .

8. Counting the Powers of 2:
We count the number of carries in the binary addition of 2019 2019 and 2018 2018 for each i i . The largest power of 2 dividing P(2020) P(2020) is determined by the minimum number of carries across all terms.

9. Final Calculation:
After detailed calculation, we find that the largest power of 2 dividing P(2020) P(2020) is 26 2^6 .

The final answer is 6 \boxed{6}

Source: NuminaMath-1.5, licensed Apache-2.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic, difficulty and ordering added by this site.