Let be a polynomial of degree at most such that for all integer such that . Find the largest nonnegative integer such that .
[i]Proposed by Michael Ren
Let be a polynomial of degree at most such that for all integer such that . Find the largest nonnegative integer such that .
[i]Proposed by Michael Ren
1. Understanding the Problem:
We are given a polynomial of degree at most 2018 such that for all integers where . We need to find the largest nonnegative integer such that divides .
2. Using Finite Differences:
The polynomial can be expressed in terms of binomial coefficients. We use the property of finite differences to find .
3. Applying the Binomial Theorem:
We know that:
where is the -th finite difference of .
4. **Calculating :**
We need to evaluate using the given values . We use the fact that:
5. Simplifying the Expression:
We simplify the expression using properties of binomial coefficients:
6. Using Lucas' Theorem:
To find the largest power of 2 dividing , we use Lucas' Theorem, which states that for nonnegative integers and and a prime :
where and are the digits of and in base .
7. **Applying Lucas' Theorem for :**
We need to find the power of 2 in the binomial coefficients:
We use the fact that the power of 2 in is given by the number of carries in the binary addition of and .
8. Counting the Powers of 2:
We count the number of carries in the binary addition of and for each . The largest power of 2 dividing 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 is .
The final answer is