Let $a$, $b$, $c$, $d$ be real numbers such that $b-d \ge 5$ and all zeros $x_1, x_2, x_3,$ and $x_4$ of the polynomial $P(x)=x^4+ax^3+bx^2+cx+d$ are real. Find the smallest value the product $(x_1^2+1)(x_2^2+1)(x_3^2+1)(x_4^2+1)$ can take.

[b]Randy:[/b] "Hi Rachel, that's an interesting quadratic equation you have written down. What are its roots?'' [b]Rachel:[/b] "The roots are two positive integers. One of the roots is my age, and the other root is the age of my younger brother, Jimmy.'' [b]Randy:[/b] "That is very neat! Let me see if I can figure out how old you and Jimmy are. That shouldn't be too difficult since all of your coefficients are integers. By the way, I notice that the sum of the three coefficients is a prime number.'' [b]Rachel:[/b] "Interesting. Now figure out how old I am.'' [b]Randy:[/b] "Instead, I will guess your age and substitute it for $x$ in your quadratic equation $\dots$ darn, that gives me $-55$, and not $0$.'' [b]Rachel:[/b] "Oh, leave me alone!'' (1) Prove that Jimmy is two years old. (2) Determine Rachel's age.

Find all polynomials $P(x)$ , such that $$P(x^3+1)=\left(P (x+1)\right)^3$$

Three real numbers $ a,b,c$ satisfy the equations $ a\plus{}b\plus{}c\equal{}3, a^2\plus{}b^2\plus{}c^2\equal{}9, a^3\plus{}b^3\plus{}c^3\equal{}24.$ Find $ a^4\plus{}b^4\plus{}c^4$.

For real numbers $a, b$, and $c$ the polynomial $p(x) = 3x^7 - 291x^6 + ax^5 + bx^4 + cx^2 + 134x - 2$ has $7$ real roots whose sum is $97$. Find the sum of the reciprocals of those $7$ roots.

Find all polynomials $P(x)$ with real coefficients having the following property: There exists a positive integer n such that the equality $$\sum_{k=1}^{2n+1}(-1)^k \left[\frac{k}{2}\right] P(x + k)=0$$ holds for infinitely many real numbers $x$.

Given a polynomial $P(x) = a_nx^n + a_{n-1}x^{n-1} + ...+ a_1x + a_0$ of real coefficients. Suppose that $P(x)$ has $n$ real roots (not necessarily distinct), and there exists a positive integer $k$ such that $a_k = a_{k-1} = 0$. Prove that $P(x)$ has a real root of multiplicity $k + 1$.

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 $2(ab+bc+cd+da+ac+bd)+abc+bcd+cda+dab=16$

Given a polynomial $P(x)=x^4+x^3+3x^2-6x+1$. Calculate $P(\alpha^2+\alpha+1)$ where \[ \alpha=\sqrt[3]{\frac{1+\sqrt{5}}{2}}+\sqrt[3]{\frac{1-\sqrt{5}}{2}} \]

$p(x)\in \mathbb{C}[x]$ is a polynomial such that: $\forall z\in \mathbb{C}, |z|=1\Longrightarrow p(z)\in \mathbb{R}$ Prove that $p(x)$ is constant.

For how many pairs $(a,b)$ from $(1,2)$, $(3,5)$, $(5,7)$, $(7,11)$, the polynomial $P(x)=x^5+ax^4+bx^3+bx^2+ax+1$ has exactly one real root? $ \textbf{(A)}\ 4 \qquad\textbf{(B)}\ 3 \qquad\textbf{(C)}\ 2 \qquad\textbf{(D)}\ 1 \qquad\textbf{(E)}\ 0 $

Determine all polynomials $P$ such that for every real number $x$, $P(x)^2 +P(-x) = P(x^2)+P(x)$

Let be the polynomial $ f=X^4+X^2\in\mathbb{Z}_2[X] $ Find: a) its degree.. b) the splitting field of $ f $ c) the Galois group of $ f $ (Galois group of its splitting field)

$p(x)$ is a polynomial of degree $n$ with leading coefficient $c$, and $q(x)$ is a polynomial of degree $m$ with leading coefficient $c$, such that \[ p(x)^2 = \left(x^2 - 1\right)q(x)^2 + 1 \] Show that $p'(x) = nq(x)$.

Let $n\ge3$ be a positive integer. Find the real numbers $x_1\ge0,\ldots,x_n\ge 0$, with $x_1+x_2+\ldots +x_n=n$, for which the expression \[(n-1)(x_1^2+x_2^2+\ldots+x_n^2)+nx_1x_2\ldots x_n\] takes a minimal value.

Let $f$ be an irreducible monic polynomial with integer coefficients such that $f(0)$ is not equal to $1$. Let $z$ be a complex number that is a root of $f$. Show that if $w$ is another complex root of $f$, then $\frac{z}{w}$ cannot be a positive integer greater than $1$.

Let $a,b,c\ge-1$ be real numbers with $a^3+b^3+c^3=1$. Prove that $a+b+c+a^2+b^2+c^2\le4$, and determine the cases of equality. (Proposed by Karl Czakler)

Determine $ m > 0$ so that $ x^4 \minus{} (3m\plus{}2)x^2 \plus{} m^2 \equal{} 0$ has four real solutions forming an arithmetic series: i.e., that the solutions may be written $ a, a\plus{}b, a\plus{}2b,$ and $ a\plus{}3b$ for suitable $ a$ and $ b$. A. 1 B. 3 C. 7 D. 12 E. None of these

Determine the minimum value of $a^{2} + b^{2}$ when $(a,b)$ traverses all the pairs of real numbers for which the equation \[ x^{4} + ax^{3} + bx^{2} + ax + 1 = 0 \] has at least one real root.

For some polynomial there is an infinite set its values, each of which takes at least at two integer points. Prove that there is at most one the integer value that a polynomial takes at exactly one integer point.

The game involves two players $A$ and $B$. Player $A$ sets the value of one of the coefficients $a, b$ or $c$ of the polynomial $$x^3 + ax^2 + bx + c.$$ Player $B$ indicates the value of any of the two remaining coefficients . Player $A$ then sets the value of the last coefficients. Is there a strategy for player A such that no matter how player $B$ plays, the equation $$x^3 + ax^2 + bx + c = 0$$ to have three different (real) solutions?

The remainder $R$ obtained by dividing $x^{100}$ by $x^2-3x+2$ is a polynomial of degree less than $2$. Then $R$ may be written as: $\textbf{(A) }2^{100}-1\qquad \textbf{(B) }2^{100}(x-1)-(x-2)\qquad \textbf{(C) }2^{100}(x-3)\qquad$ $\textbf{(D) }x(2^{100}-1)+2(2^{99}-1)\qquad \textbf{(E) }2^{100}(x+1)-(x+2)$

There are $n$ coins lying in a circle. Each coin has two sides, $+$ and $-$. A $flop$ means to flip every coin that has two different neighbors simultaneously, while leaving the others alone. For instance, $++-+$, after one $flop$, becomes $+---$. For $n$ coins, let us define $M$ to be a $perfect$ $number$ if for any initial arrangement of the coins, the arrangement of the coins after $m$ $flops$ is exactly the same as the initial one. (a) When $n=1024$, find a perfect number $M$. (b) Find all $n$ for which a perfect number $M$ exist.

Consider a polynomial with coefficients of real numbers $ \phi(x)\equal{}ax^3\plus{}bx^2\plus{}cx\plus{}d$ with three positive real roots. Assume that $ \phi(0)<0$, prove that \[ 2b^3\plus{}9a^2d\minus{}7abc \le 0.\] [i]Hery Susanto, Malang[/i]

The equation $z(z+i)(z+3i)=2002i$ has a zero of the form $a+bi$, where $a$ and $b$ are positive real numbers. Find $a$. $\textbf{(A) }\sqrt{118}\qquad\textbf{(B) }\sqrt{210}\qquad\textbf{(C) }2\sqrt{210}\qquad\textbf{(D) }\sqrt{2002}\qquad\textbf{(E) }100\sqrt2$