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Awesome polynomials for mathematics competitions

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Navid Safaei Alessandro Ventullo

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Contents

Preface vii

I Theory, Examples, and Problems 1

On the Form xd P x1


1 3
1.1 Basic properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.2 Sum of squares of coefficients of a polynomial . . . . . . . . . . 5
d 1


1.3 On the roots of x P x . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.4 Self-reciprocal polynomials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1.5 Miscellaneous problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
1.6 Proposed problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

2 Complex Numbers and Polynomials. Part I 29

2.1 There are numbers that are not real . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
2.2 Basic properties of complex numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
2.3 Using conjugation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
2.4 Using the modulus, argument, real and imaginary part
of a complex number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
2.4.1 Trigonometric representation of a complex number . . . 38
2.5 Roots of unity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
2.6 Polynomials with complex roots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
2.7 Using the modulus, real part, imaginary part, and argument
of roots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
x Contents

2.8 Trigonometric representation of roots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

2.9 Triangle Inequality and polynomials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
2.9.1 Some aspects of Triangle Inequality . . . . . . . . . . . 71
2.9.2 Polynomials and Triangle Inequality . . . . . . . . . . . 73
2.9.3 A useful lemma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
2.10 A useful identity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
2.11 Defining a polynomial with complex roots . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
2.12 Miscellaneous problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
2.13 Proposed problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

3 Finding Polynomials. Part I 101

3.1 Some basic properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
3.2 When two polynomials are identical? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
3.3 Examining the coefficients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
3.3.1 Using rewritings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
3.4 Equations that hold for infinitely many values . . . . . . . . . . 122
3.5 The only periodic polynomial is constant . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
3.6 The polynomial P (x + 1) − P (x) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
3.7 Divisibility and the greatest common divisor of
two polynomials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
3.8 Using odd and even polynomials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
3.8.1 Substituting −x instead of x . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
3.8.2 More advanced techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
3.9 Defining a new polynomial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
3.9.1 Using symmetry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
3.10 Miscellaneous problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
3.11 Proposed problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164

4 Finding Polynomials. Part II: Uniqueness Lemmas 171

4.1 First Uniqueness Lemma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
4.2 Second Uniqueness Lemma: induction and uniqueness . . . . . 180
4.3 Proposed problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
Contents xi

5 Finding Polynomials. Part III: Using Roots 199

5.1 Basic facts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
5.2 Constructing an infinite sequence of roots . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
5.3 Comparing the sets of roots of polynomials on both sides . . . 212
5.4 The form P (Q(x)) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
5.4.1 Some basic properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
5.4.2 Roots of P (Q(x)) and roots of P (x) . . . . . . . . . . . 217
5.5 Long-Run Behavior Lemma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
5.6 Miscellaneous problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
5.7 Proposed problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236

6 Lagrange’s Interpolation Formula (L.I.F.) 239

6.1 The formula . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
6.2 Constructing identities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
6.3 Comparing leading coefficients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
6.4 A useful special case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
6.5 The uniqueness/existence proofs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
6.6 A novel interpretation of xd . . .


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
6.7 Proposed problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283

7 Newton’s Identities 285

7.1 Two forms of Newton’s Identities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
7.2 Newton’s Identities and number theory: elementary problems . 299
7.3 Newton’s Identities and polynomials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302
7.4 Newton’s Identities and number theory: advanced problems . . 310
7.5 Proposed problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314

8 Additional Problems 317

II Solutions to the Proposed Problems 333

1
On the Form xd P


1 x 335

2 Complex Numbers and Polynomials. Part I 349

xii Contents

3 Finding Polynomials. Part I 375

4 Finding Polynomials. Part II 407

5 Finding Polynomials. Part III 413

6 Lagrange’s Interpolation Formula (L.I.F.) 423

7 Newton’s Identities 431

8 Additional Problems 443

Alphabetical Index 531

 Part I

Theory, Examples, and

Problems
Chapter 1
 
On the Form xdP x1

On some occasions, changing the original setting of the problem will make the
problem more approachable.
For instance, instead of working with the polynomial ad xd + . . . + a0 , we may
work with the polynomial a0 xd + . . . + ad . This, may lead us to discover some
unseen consequences of the hypotheses. We can easily transform

P (x) = ad xd + . . . + a0 to a0 xd + . . . + ad .

We just take the polynomial xd P x1 .

1.1 Basic properties

Reciprocal polynomial

Let P (x) = ad xd + . . . + a0 . The polynomial

 
d 1
x P = a0 xd + . . . + ad
x

is called the reciprocal polynomial or inverse polynomial of P (x).

4 Chapter 1

1
From now on, we will call xd P


x the reciprocal polynomial.

For example, the reciprocal polynomial of P (x) = 2x3 − 3x2 + 1 is x3 − 3x + 2.

The reciprocal polynomial of Q(x) = 4x3 − 3x is −3x2 + 4.

In short, the reciprocal polynomial reverses the order of coefficients of the

original polynomial.

Sometimes, the reciprocal polynomial has lower degree than the original poly-
nomial. Crudely speaking, it depends on zero-multiplicity of the polynomial.
That is, if P (x) is a polynomial of degree d such that 0 is a root with multi-
plicity r, so P (x) = xr Q(x) with Q(0) 6= 0, we easily find that
     
d 1 d −r 1 d−r 1
x P =x x Q =x Q .
x x x

The reciprocal polynomial xd P (x) = xd−r Q x1 is of degree d − r.

Example 1.1. Let P (x) be a polynomial of degree  5 with nonnegative integer

1
coefficients such that for all x 6= 0, P (x) = x6 P and P (2) = 10P (1). Find
x
P (3)
the greatest possible value of .
P (2)
 
1
Solution. Let P (x) = ax5+ . . . + c. If c 6= 0, then the polynomial x6 P
x
has degree 6 and it cannot be equal to a polynomial P (x) of degree 5. Hence
c = 0. Putting P (x) = xQ(x) for some polynomial Q(x) of degree 4, we get
   
6 1 5 1
P (x) = xQ(x) = x P =x Q .
x x
 
4 1
We deduce that Q(x) = x Q , which gives Q(x) = ax4 +bx3 +cx2 +bx+a
x
for some non-negative integers a, b, c. Moreover, from P (2) = 10P (1), we find

2Q(2) = 10Q(1).
 1
On the Form xd P


x 5

Thus 17a + 10b + 4c = 5(2a + 2b + c), which yields 7a = c. Moreover,

P (3) 3Q(3) 3(82a + 30b + 9c)
= =
P (2) 2Q(2) 10(2a + 2b + c)
3(145a + 30b)
=
10(9a + 2b)
3(29a + 6b)
=
2(9a + 2b)
6a + 3(27a + 6b)
=
2(9a + 2b)
9 3a
= +
2 9a + 2b
9 1
= + 2b
.
2 3 + 3a
2b 9 1 9 1 29
Since ≥ 0, then + 2b
≤ + = . The equality case occurs for
3a 2 3 + 3a 2 3 6
b = 0 and the polynomial P (x) = x(ax4 + 7ax2 + a) = ax(x4 + 7x2 + 1). 

1.2 Sum of squares of coefficients of a polynomial

Let P (x) = ad xd + . . . + a0 . It is instructive to consider the product
 
1
P (x)P = (ad xd + . . . + a1 x + a0 )(ad x−d + . . . + a1 x−1 + a0 ).
x
The above product is a rational function. The constant term of the above
product is of special interest. Constant terms arise from the products of the
form ar xr · ar x−r = a2r . Hence the constant term of the above product is the
sum of squares of the coefficients of the polynomial.
Sum of squares of the coefficients of a polynomial

The sum of squares of the coefficients of a polynomial

  P (x) is the coef-
1
ficient of the constant term in the product P (x)P .
x
6 Chapter 1

Example 1.2. Let P2n (x) = (6x2 + 5x + 1)n and Q2n (x) = (3x2 + 7x + 2)n .
Prove that the sum of squares of the coefficients of P2n (x) and Q2n (x) are the
same.

Solution. It is known that the sum of squares of the coefficients of P2n (x)

and Q2n (x) are equal to the coefficient of x0 in the products P2n (x)P2n x1
and Q2n (x)Q2n x1 . Note that

P2n (x) = (6x2 + 5x + 1)n = (3x + 1)n (2x + 1)n

and
Q2n (x) = (3x2 + 7x + 2)n = (3x + 1)n (x + 2)n .
Therefore
   n  n
1 3 2
P2n (x)P2n = (3x + 1)n (2x + 1)n +1 +1
x x x
(3x + 1) (2x + 1) (x + 3) (x + 2)n
n n n
=
x2n
and
   n  n
1 n n 3 1
Q2n (x)Q2n = (3x + 1) (x + 2) +1 +2
x x x
(3x + 1)n (x + 2)n (3 + x)n (2x + 1)n
= .
x2n
Comparing these we see that
   
1 1
Q2n (x)Q2n = P2n (x)P2n .
x x

Thus the coefficient of x0 is the same in both products. 

Example 1.3. Assume that for all x 6= 0:

24
1 √ 12 X
 
x+ + 2 = ck xk−12 .
x
k=0
 1
On the Form xd P


x 7

24
X
Find the value of (−1)k c2k .
k=0
Korean Mathematical Olympiad, 2nd Round 2006

1
Solution. If we use the substitution x 7→ − , we find that
x
12 X 24 24
1 √
 X
k−12 12−k
x+ − 2 = ck (−1) x = ck (−1)k x12−k .
x
k=0 k=0
Multiplying this equality by the original equality, we get
!12
1 √ 12 1 √ 12 1 2
     
x+ + 2 x+ − 2 = x+ −2
x x x
1 12
 
= x2 + 2
x
24
! 24 !
X X
= ck xk−12 (−1)k ck xk−12 .
k=0 k=0

Examining the coefficient of x0 in the last expression, we see that

24
! 24 ! 24
X X X
0 k−12 k k−12
[x ] ck x (−1) ck x = (−1)k c2k
k=0 k=0 k=0

is exactly the sum we want. Thus the answer is the coefficient of x0 in

1 12 (x4 + 1)12
 
2
x + 2 =
x x24
which is the same as the coefficient of x24 in the numerator. Since
12  
X 12 4k
(x4 + 1)12 = x ,
k
k=0
  24
12 X
we obtain that the coefficient of x24 is = 924, so (−1)k c2k = 924. 
6
k=0

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