Polynomial Problem Set

Problems recommended by Nuterrow#5204, typeset by interloop#0691

” iNTpoly is just cool. ”

- Nuterrow#5204

1 Problems

Problem 1. (Putnam 1956) The polynomials P (z) and Q(z) with complex coefficients have the same set of
numbers for their zeros but possibly different multiplicities. The same is true for the polynomials

P (z) + 1 and Q(z) + 1.

Prove that P (z) = Q(z).

Problem 2. (BxMO 2020) Find all positive integers d with the following property: there exists a polynomial
P of degree d with integer coefficients such that |P (m)| = 1 for at least d + 1 different integers m.

Problem 3. (INMO 2018) Find all polynomials with real coefficients P (x) such that P (x2 + x + 1) divides
P (x3 − 1).

Problem 4. (ELMO 2016) Big Bird has a polynomial P with integer coefficients such that n divides P (2n ) for
every positive integer n. Prove that Big Bird’s polynomial must be the zero polynomial.

Problem 5. (Canada 2010) Let P (x) and Q(x) be polynomials with integer coefficients. Let an = n! + n.
P (an ) P (n)
Show that if Q(a n)
is an integer for every n, then Q(n) is an integer for every integer n such that Q(n) ̸= 0.

Problem 6. (RMM 2018) Determine whether there exist non‐constant polynomials P (x) and Q(x) with real
coefficients satisfying
P (x)10 + P (x)9 = Q(x)21 + Q(x)20 .

Problem 7. (India TST 2019) Determine all non‐constant monic polynomials f (x) with integer coefficients
for which there exists a natural number M such that for all n ≥ M , f (n) divides f (2n ) − 2f (n)

Problem 8. (RMM Extras 2018) Determine all polynomials f with integer coefficients such that f (p) is a
divisor of 2p − 2 for every odd prime p.

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Problem 9. (APMO 2021) For a polynomial P and a positive integer n, define Pn as the number of positive
integer pairs (a, b) such that a < b ≤ n and |P (a)| − |P (b)| is divisible by n. Determine all polynomial P
with integer coefficients such that Pn ≤ 2021 for all positive integers n.

Problem 10. (APMO 2018) Find all polynomials P (x) with integer coefficients such that for all real numbers
s and t, if P (s) and P (t) are both integers, then P (st) is also an integer.

Problem 11. (RMM 2018) Determine whether there exist non‐constant polynomials P (x) and Q(x) with real
coefficients satisfying
P (x)10 + P (x)9 = Q(x)21 + Q(x)20 .

Problem 12. (RMM 2023) Let P (x), Q(x), R(x) and S(x) be non‐constant polynomials with real coefficients
such that P (Q(x)) = R(S(x)). Suppose that the degree of P (x) is divisible by the degree of R(x). Prove
that there is a polynomial T (x) with real coefficients such that:

P (x) = R(T (x))

Problem 13. (ARMO 2004) The polynomials P (x) and Q(x) are given. It is known that for a certain polyno‐
mial R(x, y) the identity P (x) − P (y) = R(x, y)(Q(x) − Q(y)) applies. Prove that there is a polynomial
S(x) so that P (x) = S(Q(x)) ∀x.

Problem 14. (USAMO 2002) Prove that any monic polynomial (a polynomial with leading coefficient 1) of
degree n with real coefficients is the average of two monic polynomials of degree n with n real roots.

Problem 15. (ELMOSL 2018) Say a positive integer n > 1 is d‐coverable if for each non‐empty subset S ⊆
{0, 1, . . . , n − 1}, there exists a polynomial P with integer coefficients and degree at most d such that S
is exactly the set of residues modulo n that P attains as it ranges over the integers. For each n, find the
smallest d such that n is d‐coverable, or prove no such d exists.

Problem 16. (USEMO 2019) Let Z[x] denote the set of single‐variable polynomials in x with integer coeffi‐
cients. Find all functions θ : Z[x] → Z[x] (i.e. functions taking polynomials to polynomials) such that:
• for any polynomials p, q ∈ Z[x], θ(p + q) = θ(p) + θ(q);

• for any polynomial p ∈ Z[x], p has an integer root if and only if θ(p) does.

Problem 17. (USA TST 2020) Find all integers n ≥ 2 for which there exists an integer m and a polynomial
P (x) with integer coefficients satisfying the following three conditions:
• m > 1 and gcd(m, n) = 1;
• the numbers P (0), P 2 (0), . . ., P m−1 (0) are not divisible by n; and

• P m (0) is divisible by n.
Here P k means P applied k times, so P 1 (0) = P (0), P 2 (0) = P (P (0)), etc.

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Problem 18. (USEMO 2022) Let τ (n) denote the number of positive integer divisors of a positive integer
n (for example, τ (2022) = 8). Given a polynomial P (X) with integer coefficients, we define a sequence
a1 , a2 , . . . of nonnegative integers by setting
{
gcd(P (n), τ (P (n))) if P (n) > 0
an =
0 if P (n) ≤ 0

for each positive integer n. We then say the sequence has limit infinity if every integer occurs in this
sequence only finitely many times (possibly not at all).

Does there exist a choice of P (X) for which the sequence a1 , a2 , . . . has limit infinity?

Problem 19. (ISL 2012) For a nonnegative integer n define rad(n) = 1 if n = 0 or n = 1, and rad(n) =
p1 p2 · · · pk where p1 < p2 < · · · < pk are all prime factors of n. Find all polynomials f (x) with nonnegative
integer coefficients such that rad(f (n)) divides rad(f (nrad(n) )) for every nonnegative integer n.

Problem 20. (ISL 2011) Let P (x) and Q(x) be two polynomials with integer coefficients, such that no non‐
constant polynomial with rational coefficients divides both P (x) and Q(x). Suppose that for every positive
integer n the integers P (n) and Q(n) are positive, and 2Q(n) − 1 divides 3P (n) − 1. Prove that Q(x) is a
constant polynomial.

Problem 21. (ELMO 2022) Find all monic nonconstant polynomials P with integer coefficients for which
there exist positive integers a and m such that for all positive integers n ≡ a (mod m), P (n) is nonzero
and
(n + 1)n+1 − nn
2022 ·
P (n)
is an integer.

Problem 22. (USAMO 1995) Suppose q0 , q1 , q2 , . . . is an infinite sequence of integers satisfying the follow‐
ing two conditions:
1. m − n divides qm − qn for m > n ≥ 0,
2. there is a polynomial P such that |qn | < P (n) for all n

Prove that there is a polynomial Q such that qn = Q(n) for all n.

Problem 23. (USAMO 2006) For integral m, let p(m) be the greatest prime divisor of m. By convention, we
set p(±1) = 1 and p(0) = ∞. Find all polynomials f with integer coefficients such that the sequence
( ( ))
{p f n2 − 2n}n≥0
( )
is bounded above. (In particular, this requires f n2 ̸= 0 for n ≥ 0.)

Problem 24. (HMIC 2014) Let ω be a root of unity and f be a polynomial with integer coefficients. Show that
if |f (ω)| = 1, then f (ω) is also a root of unity.

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Problem 25. (HMIC 2015) Let ω = e2πi/5 be a primitive fifth root of unity. Prove that there do not exist
integers a, b, c, d, k with k > 1 such that

(a + bω + cω 2 + dω 3 )k = 1 + ω.

Problem 26. (ISL 2019) Let x1 , x2 , . . . , xn be different real numbers. Prove that
∑ ∏ 1 − xi xj {
0, if n is even;
=
xi − xj 1, if n is odd.
1⩽i⩽n j̸=i

Problem 27. (ISL 1997) Find all positive integers k for which the following statement is true: If F (x) is a
polynomial with integer coefficients satisfying the condition 0 ≤ F (c) ≤ k for each c ∈ {0, 1, . . . , k + 1},
then F (0) = F (1) = . . . = F (k + 1).

Problem 28. (ISL 1997) Let P (x) be a polynomial with real coefficients such that P (x) > 0 for all x ≥ 0.
Prove that there exists a positive integer n such that (1 + x)n · P (x) is a polynomial with nonnegative
coefficients.

Problem 29. (USA TST 2017) Let P, Q ∈ R[x] be relatively prime nonconstant polynomials. Show that there
can be at most three real numbers λ such that P + λQ is the square of a polynomial.

Problem 30. (ELMOSL 2014) Let t and n be fixed integers each at least 2. Find the largest positive integer
m for which there exists a polynomial P , of degree n and with rational coefficients, such that the following
property holds: exactly one of
P (k) P (k)
and k+1
tk t
is an integer for each k = 0, 1, ..., m.

Problem 31. (ISL 2009) Let f be a non‐constant function from the set of positive integers into the set of
positive integer, such that a − b divides f (a) − f (b) for all distinct positive integers a, b. Prove that there
exist infinitely many primes p such that p divides f (c) for some positive integer c.

Problem 32. (ToT Senior 2016) On a blackboard, several polynomials of degree 37 are written, each of them
has the leading coefficient equal to 1. Initially all coefficients of each polynomial are non‐negative. By one
move it is allowed to erase any pair of polynomials f , g and replace it by another pair of polynomials f1 , g1
of degree 37 with the leading coefficients equal to 1 such that either f1 + g1 = f + g or f1 g1 = f g. Prove
that it is impossible that after some move each polynomial on the blackboard has 37 distinct positive roots.

Problem 33. (USMCA 2020 Premier) Let P be a non‐constant polynomial with integer coefficients such that
if n is a perfect power, so is P (n). Prove that P (x) = x or P is a perfect power of a polynomial with integer
coefficients. A perfect power is an integer nk , where n ∈ Z and k ≥ 2. A perfect power of a polynomial is
a polynomial P (x)k , where P has integer coefficients and k ≥ 2.

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Problem 34. (USA TSTST 2018) As usual, let Z[x] denote the set of single‐variable polynomials in x with
integer coefficients. Find all functions θ : Z[x] → Z such that for any polynomials p, q ∈ Z[x],
• θ(p + 1) = θ(p) + 1, and

• if θ(p) ̸= 0 then θ(p) divides θ(p · q).

Problem 35. (USA TST 2008) Let n be a positive integer. Given an integer coefficient polynomial f (x),
define its signature modulo n to be the (ordered) sequence f (1), . . . , f (n) modulo n. Of the nn such n‐
term sequences of integers modulo n, how many are the signature of some polynomial f (x) if
1. n is a positive integer not divisible by the square of a prime.

2. n is a positive integer not divisible by the cube of a prime.