Found problems: 3597
1996 Vietnam National Olympiad, 3
Prove that:$a+b+c+d \geq \frac{2}{3}(ab+bc+ca+ad+ac+bd)$
where $a;b;c;d$ are positive real numbers satisfying $2(ab+bc+cd+da+ac+bd)+abc+bcd+cda+dab=16$
1992 All Soviet Union Mathematical Olympiad, 576
If you have an algorithm for finding all the real zeros of any cubic polynomial, how do you find the real solutions to $x = p(y), y = p(x)$, where $p$ is a cubic polynomial?
1967 IMO Longlists, 5
Solve the system of equations:
$
\begin{matrix}
x^2 + x - 1 = y \\
y^2 + y - 1 = z \\
z^2 + z - 1 = x.
\end{matrix}
$
2015 Iran MO (3rd round), 5
Find all polynomials $p(x)\in\mathbb{R}[x]$ such that for all $x\in \mathbb{R}$:
$p(5x)^2-3=p(5x^2+1)$ such that:
$a) p(0)\neq 0$
$b) p(0)=0$
1975 IMO, 6
Determine the polynomials P of two variables so that:
[b]a.)[/b] for any real numbers $t,x,y$ we have $P(tx,ty) = t^n P(x,y)$ where $n$ is a positive integer, the same for all $t,x,y;$
[b]b.)[/b] for any real numbers $a,b,c$ we have $P(a + b,c) + P(b + c,a) + P(c + a,b) = 0;$
[b]c.)[/b] $P(1,0) =1.$
1990 AIME Problems, 15
Find $ax^5 + by^5$ if the real numbers $a$, $b$, $x$, and $y$ satisfy the equations
\begin{eqnarray*} ax + by &=& 3, \\ ax^2 + by^2 &=& 7, \\ ax^3 + by^3 &=& 16, \\ ax^4 + by^4 &=& 42. \end{eqnarray*}
1996 German National Olympiad, 6a
Prove the following statement:
If a polynomial $p(x) = x^3 + Ax^2 + Bx +C$ has three real positve roots at least two of which are distinct, then $A^2 +B^2 +18C > 0$.
2001 Czech And Slovak Olympiad IIIA, 1
Determine all polynomials $P$ such that for every real number $x$, $P(x)^2 +P(-x) = P(x^2)+P(x)$
2009 National Olympiad First Round, 7
The product of uncommon real roots of the two polynomials $ x^4 \plus{} 2x^3 \minus{} 8x^2 \minus{} 6x \plus{} 15$ and $ x^3 \plus{} 4x^2 \minus{} x \minus{} 10$ is ?
$\textbf{(A)}\ \minus{} 4 \qquad\textbf{(B)}\ 4 \qquad\textbf{(C)}\ \minus{} 6 \qquad\textbf{(D)}\ 6 \qquad\textbf{(E)}\ \text{None}$
1985 Traian Lălescu, 1.1
$ n $ is a natural number, and $ S $ is the sum of all the solutions of the equations
$$ x^2+a_k\cdot x+a_k=0,\quad a_k\in\mathbb{R} ,\quad k\in\{ 1,2,...,n\} . $$
Show that if $ |S|>2n\left( \sqrt[n]{n} -1\right) , $ then at least one of the equations has real solutions.
1987 Federal Competition For Advanced Students, P2, 6
Determine all polynomials $ P_n(x)\equal{}x^n\plus{}a_1 x^{n\minus{}1}\plus{}...\plus{}a_{n\minus{}1} x\plus{}a_n$ with integer coefficients whose $ n$ zeros are precisely the numbers $ a_1,...,a_n$ (counted with their respective multiplicities).
2018 ELMO Shortlist, 4
Elmo calls a monic polynomial with real coefficients [i]tasty[/i] if all of its coefficients are in the range $[-1,1]$. A monic polynomial $P$ with real coefficients and complex roots $\chi_1,\cdots,\chi_m$ (counted with multiplicity) is given to Elmo, and he discovers that there does not exist a monic polynomial $Q$ with real coefficients such that $PQ$ is tasty. Find all possible values of $\max\left(|\chi_1|,\cdots,|\chi_m|\right)$.
[i]Proposed by Carl Schildkraut[/i]
1998 India National Olympiad, 5
Suppose $a,b,c$ are three rela numbers such that the quadratic equation \[ x^2 - (a +b +c )x + (ab +bc +ca) = 0 \] has roots of the form $\alpha + i \beta$ where $\alpha > 0$ and $\beta \not= 0$ are real numbers. Show that
(i) The numbers $a,b,c$ are all positive.
(ii) The numbers $\sqrt{a}, \sqrt{b} , \sqrt{c}$ form the sides of a triangle.
1998 Harvard-MIT Mathematics Tournament, 7
Given that three roots of $f(x)=x^4+ax^2+bx+c$ are $2$, $-3$, and $5$, what is the value of $a+b+c$?
I Soros Olympiad 1994-95 (Rus + Ukr), 11.3
For each non-negative $a$, consider the equation $$x^3 + ax - a^3 - 29 = 0.$$ Let $x_o$ be the positive root of this equation. Prove that for all $a > 0$ such a root exists. What is the smallest value of $x_o$?
1968 IMO Shortlist, 4
Let $a,b,c$ be real numbers with $a$ non-zero. It is known that the real numbers $x_1,x_2,\ldots,x_n$ satisfy the $n$ equations:
\[ ax_1^2+bx_1+c = x_{2} \]\[ ax_2^2+bx_2 +c = x_3\]\[ \ldots \quad \ldots \quad \ldots \quad \ldots\]\[ ax_n^2+bx_n+c = x_1 \] Prove that the system has [b]zero[/b], [u]one[/u] or [i]more than one[/i] real solutions if $(b-1)^2-4ac$ is [b]negative[/b], equal to [u]zero[/u] or [i]positive[/i] respectively.
2016 Israel National Olympiad, 5
The Fibonacci sequence $F_n$ is defined by $F_1=F_2=1$ and the recurrence relation $F_n=F_{n-1}+F_{n-2}$ for all integers $n\geq3$.
Let $m,n\geq1$ be integers. Find the minimal degree $d$ for which there exists a polynomial $f(x)=a_dx^d+a_{d-1}x^{d-1}+\dots+a_1x+a_0$, which satisfies $f(k)=F_{m+k}$ for all $k=0,1,...,n$.
2015 Germany Team Selection Test, 1
Find the least positive integer $n$, such that there is a polynomial \[ P(x) = a_{2n}x^{2n}+a_{2n-1}x^{2n-1}+\dots+a_1x+a_0 \] with real coefficients that satisfies both of the following properties:
- For $i=0,1,\dots,2n$ it is $2014 \leq a_i \leq 2015$.
- There is a real number $\xi$ with $P(\xi)=0$.
1969 Spain Mathematical Olympiad, 6
Given a polynomial of real coefficients P(x) , can it be affirmed that for any real value of x is true of one of the following inequalities:
$$P(x) \le P(x)^2; \,\,\, P(x) < 1 + P(x)^2; \,\,\,P(x) \le \frac12 +\frac12 P(x)^2.$$
Find a simple general procedure (among the many existing ones) that allows, provided we are given two polynomials $P(x)$ and $Q(x)$ , find another $M(x)$ such that for every value of $x$, at the same time
$-M(x) < P(x)<M(x)$ and $-M(x)< Q(x)<M(x)$.
2010 Harvard-MIT Mathematics Tournament, 8
How many polynomials of degree exactly $5$ with real coefficients send the set $\{1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6\}$ to a permutation of itself?
2011 Uzbekistan National Olympiad, 4
$A$ graph $G$ arises from $G_{1}$ and $G_{2}$ by pasting them along $S$ if $G$ has induced subgraphs $G_{1}$, $G_{2}$ with $G=G_{1}\cup G_{2}$ and $S$ is such that $S=G_{1}\cap G_{2}.$ A is graph is called [i]chordal[/i] if it can be constructed recursively by pasting along complete subgraphs, starting from complete subgraphs. For a graph $G(V,E)$ define its Hilbert polynomial $H_{G}(x)$ to be
$H_{G}(x)=1+Vx+Ex^2+c(K_{3})x^3+c(K_{4})x^4+\ldots+c(K_{w(G)})x^{w(G)},$
where $c(K_{i})$ is the number of $i$-cliques in $G$ and $w(G)$ is the clique number of $G$. Prove that $H_{G}(-1)=0$ if and only if $G$ is chordal or a tree.
1994 Swedish Mathematical Competition, 5
The polynomial $x^k + a_1x^{k-1} + a_2x^{k-2} +... + a_k$ has $k$ distinct real roots. Show that $a_1^2 > \frac{2ka_2}{k-1}$.
2010 Germany Team Selection Test, 3
A positive integer $N$ is called [i]balanced[/i], if $N=1$ or if $N$ can be written as a product of an even number of not necessarily distinct primes. Given positive integers $a$ and $b$, consider the polynomial $P$ defined by $P(x)=(x+a)(x+b)$.
(a) Prove that there exist distinct positive integers $a$ and $b$ such that all the number $P(1)$, $P(2)$,$\ldots$, $P(50)$ are balanced.
(b) Prove that if $P(n)$ is balanced for all positive integers $n$, then $a=b$.
[i]Proposed by Jorge Tipe, Peru[/i]
2011 National Olympiad First Round, 11
The sum of distinct real roots of the polynomial $x^5+x^4-4x^3-7x^2-7x-2$ is
$\textbf{(A)}\ 0 \qquad\textbf{(B)}\ 1 \qquad\textbf{(C)}\ 2 \qquad\textbf{(D)}\ -2 \qquad\textbf{(E)}\ 7$
2024 Brazil Undergrad MO, 2
For each pair of integers \( j, k \geq 2 \), define the function \( f_{jk} : \mathbb{R} \to \mathbb{R} \) given by
\[
f_{jk}(x) = 1 - (1 - x^j)^k.
\]
(a) Prove that for any integers \( j, k \geq 2 \), there exists a unique real number \( p_{jk} \in (0, 1) \) such that \( f_{jk}(p_{jk}) = p_{jk} \). Furthermore, defining \( \lambda_{jk} := f'_{jk}(p_{jk}) \), prove that \( \lambda_{jk} > 1 \).
(b) Prove that \( p^j_{jk} = 1 - p_{kj} \) for any integers \( j, k \geq 2 \).
(c) Prove that \( \lambda_{jk} = \lambda_{kj} \) for any integers \( j, k \geq 2 \).