Let $n\ge 1$ be a fixed integer. Calculate the distance $\inf_{p,f}\, \max_{0\le x\le 1} |f(x)-p(x)|$ , where $p$ runs over polynomials of degree less than $n$ with real coefficients and $f$ runs over functions $f(x)= \sum_{k=n}^{\infty} c_k x^k$ defined on the closed interval $[0,1]$ , where $c_k \ge 0$ and $\sum_{k=n}^{\infty} c_k=1$.

The infinite sequence $P_0(x),P_1(x),P_2(x),\ldots,P_n(x),\ldots$ is defined as \[P_0(x)=x,\quad P_n(x) = P_{n-1}(x-1)\cdot P_{n-1}(x+1),\quad n\ge 1.\] Find the largest $k$ such that $P_{2014}(x)$ is divisible by $x^k$.

Suppose $0<m_1<...<m_n$ and $m_i \equiv i (\mod 2)$. Prove that the following polynomial has at most $n$ real roots. ($\forall 1\le i \le n: a_i \in \mathbb R$). \[a_0+a_1x^{m_1}+a_2x^{m_2}+...+a_nx^{m_n}.\]

Let $P_c(x)=x^4+ax^3+bx^2+cx+1$ and $Q_c(x)=x^4+cx^3+bx^2+ax+1$ with $a,b$ real numbers, $c \in \{1,2, \dots, 2017\}$ an integer and $a \ne c$. Define $A_c=\{\alpha | P_c(\alpha)=0\}$ and $B_c=\{\beta | P(\beta)=0\}$. (a) Find the number of unordered pairs of polynomials $P_c(x), Q_c(x)$ with exactly two common roots. (b) For any $1 \le c \le 2017$, find the sum of the elements of $A_c \Delta B_c$.

Let $n$ be the number of polynomial functions from the integers modulo $2010$ to the integers modulo $2010$. $n$ can be written as $n = p_1 p_2 \cdots p_k$, where the $p_i$s are (not necessarily distinct) primes. Find $p_1 + p_2 + \cdots + p_n$.

Let us consider every third degree polynomial $P(x)$ with coefficients as nonnegative positive integers such that $P(1)=20$. Among them determine polynomial for which is: $a)$ Minimal value of $P(4)$ $b)$ Maximal value of $P(3)/P(2)$

Prove that for every nonnegative integer $n$, the number $7^{7^{n}}+1$ is the product of at least $2n+3$ (not necessarily distinct) primes.

A large equilateral triangle is constructed by using toothpicks to create rows of small equilateral triangles. For example, in the figure we have $ 3$ rows of small congruent equilateral triangles, with $ 5$ small triangles in the base row. How many toothpicks would be needed to construct a large equilateral triangle if the base row of the triangle consists of $ 2003$ small equilateral triangles? [asy]unitsize(15mm); defaultpen(linewidth(.8pt)+fontsize(8pt)); pair Ap=(0,0), Bp=(1,0), Cp=(2,0), Dp=(3,0), Gp=dir(60); pair Fp=shift(Gp)*Bp, Ep=shift(Gp)*Cp; pair Hp=shift(Gp)*Gp, Ip=shift(Gp)*Fp; pair Jp=shift(Gp)*Hp; pair[] points={Ap,Bp,Cp,Dp,Ep,Fp,Gp,Hp,Ip,Jp}; draw(Ap--Dp--Jp--cycle); draw(Gp--Bp--Ip--Hp--Cp--Ep--cycle); for(pair p : points) { fill(circle(p, 0.07),white); } pair[] Cn=new pair[5]; Cn[0]=centroid(Ap,Bp,Gp); Cn[1]=centroid(Gp,Bp,Fp); Cn[2]=centroid(Bp,Fp,Cp); Cn[3]=centroid(Cp,Fp,Ep); Cn[4]=centroid(Cp,Ep,Dp); label("$1$",Cn[0]); label("$2$",Cn[1]); label("$3$",Cn[2]); label("$4$",Cn[3]); label("$5$",Cn[4]); for (pair p : Cn) { draw(circle(p,0.1)); }[/asy] $ \textbf{(A)}\ 1,\!004,\!004 \qquad \textbf{(B)}\ 1,\!005,\!006 \qquad \textbf{(C)}\ 1,\!507,\!509 \qquad \textbf{(D)}\ 3,\!015,\!018 \qquad \textbf{(E)}\ 6,\!021,\!018$

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]

For each non-negative integer $n$, $F_n(x)$ is a polynomial in $x$ of degree $n$. Prove that if the identity \[F_n(2x)=\sum_{r=0}^{n} (-1)^{n-r} \binom nr 2^r F_r(x)\] holds for each n, then \[F_n(tx)=\sum_{r=0}^{n} \binom nr t^r (1-t)^{n-r} F_r(x)\]

Let $n$ be a positive integer, and $a_j$, for $j=1,2,\ldots,n$ are complex numbers. Suppose $I$ is an arbitrary nonempty subset of $\{1,2,\ldots,n\}$, the inequality $\left|-1+ \prod_{j\in I} (1+a_j) \right| \leq \frac 12$ always holds. Prove that $\sum_{j=1}^n |a_j| \leq 3$.

Let $P(x)$ be a polynomial of degree $n \le 10$ with integral coefficients such that for every $k \in \{1, 2, \dots, 10\}$ there is an integer $m$ with $P(m) = k$. Furthermore, it is given that $|P(10) - P(0)| < 1000$. Prove that for every integer $k$ there is an integer $m$ such that $P(m) = k.$

Let $p$ be a prime satisfying $p^2\mid 2^{p-1}-1$, and let $n$ be a positive integer. Define \[ f(x) = \frac{(x-1)^{p^n}-(x^{p^n}-1)}{p(x-1)}. \] Find the largest positive integer $N$ such that there exist polynomials $g(x)$, $h(x)$ with integer coefficients and an integer $r$ satisfying $f(x) = (x-r)^N g(x) + p \cdot h(x)$. [i]Proposed by Victor Wang[/i]

Tatjana imagined a polynomial $P(x)$ with nonnegative integer coefficients. Danica is trying to guess the polynomial. In each step, she chooses an integer $k$ and Tatjana tells her the value of $P(k)$. Find the smallest number of steps Danica needs in order to find the polynomial Tatjana imagined.

Let $f(x)=\frac{P(x)}{Q(x)}$, where $P(x), Q(x)$ are two non-constant polynomials with no common zeros and $P(0)=P(1)=0$. Suppose $f(x)f\left(\frac{1}{x}\right)=f(x)+f\left(\frac{1}{x}\right)$ for infinitely many values of $x$. a) Show that $\text{deg}(P)<\text{deg}(Q)$. b) Show that $P'(1)=2Q'(1)-\text{deg}(Q)\cdot Q(1)$. Here, $P'(x)$ denotes the derivative of $P(x)$ as usual.

For complex number constant $c$, and real number constants $p$ and $q$, there exist three distinct complex values of $x$ that satisfy $x^3 + cx + p(1 + qi) = 0$. Suppose $c$, $p$, and $q$ were chosen so that all three complex roots $x$ satisfy $\tfrac{5}{6} \leq \tfrac{\mathrm{Im}(x)}{\mathrm{Re}(x)} \leq \tfrac{6}{5}$, where $\mathrm{Im}(x)$ and $\mathrm{Re}(x)$ are the imaginary and real part of $x$, respectively. The largest possible value of $|q|$ can be expressed as a common fraction $\tfrac{m}{n}$, where $m$ and $n$ are relatively prime positive integers. Compute $m + n$.

Let $n > 1$ be an integer and let $f(x) = x^n + 5 \cdot x^{n-1} + 3.$ Prove that there do not exist polynomials $g(x),h(x),$ each having integer coefficients and degree at least one, such that $f(x) = g(x) \cdot h(x).$

Prove that there is no non-constant polynomial $P(x)$ with integer coefficients such that $P(n)$ is a prime number for all positive integers $n$.

A circle is divided into arcs of equal size by $n$ points ($n \ge 1$). For any positive integer $x$, let $P_n(x)$ denote the number of possibilities for colouring all those points, using colours from $x$ given colours, so that any rotation of the colouring by $ i \cdot \frac{360^o}{n}$ , where i is a positive integer less than $n$, gives a colouring that differs from the original in at least one point. Prove that the function $P_n(x)$ is a polynomial with respect to $x$.

Let $ f(x) \equal{} c_m x^m \plus{} c_{m\minus{}1} x^{m\minus{}1} \plus{}...\plus{} c_1 x \plus{} c_0$, where each $ c_i$ is a non-zero integer. Define a sequence $ \{ a_n \}$ by $ a_1 \equal{} 0$ and $ a_{n\plus{}1} \equal{} f(a_n)$ for all positive integers $ n$. (a) Let $ i$ and $ j$ be positive integers with $ i<j$. Show that $ a_{j\plus{}1} \minus{} a_j$ is a multiple of $ a_{i\plus{}1} \minus{} a_i$. (b) Show that $ a_{2008} \neq 0$

Let $n=p_1p_2\cdots p_s$, where $p_1,\ldots,p_s$ are distinct odd prime numbers. (a) Prove that the expression $$F_n(x)=\prod\left(x^{\frac n{p_{i_1}\cdots p_{i_k}}}-1\right)^{(-1)^k},$$where the product goes over all subsets $\{p_{i_1},\ldots,p_{i_k}\}$ or $\{p_1,\ldots,p_s\}$ (including itself and the empty set), can be written as a polynomial in $x$ with integer coefficients. (b) Prove that if $p$ is a prime divisor of $F_n(2)$, then either $p\mid n$ or $n\mid p-1$.

Let $n$ be a given positive integer. Alice and Bob play a game. In the beginning, Alice determines an integer polynomial $P(x)$ with degree no more than $n$. Bob doesn’t know $P(x)$, and his goal is to determine whether there exists an integer $k$ such that no integer roots of $P(x) = k$ exist. In each round, Bob can choose a constant $c$. Alice will tell Bob an integer $k$, representing the number of integer $t$ such that $P(t) = c$. Bob needs to pay one dollar for each round. Find the minimum cost such that Bob can guarantee to reach his goal. [i]Proposed by ltf0501[/i]

Let $n$ be a positive integer. Prove that there exist integers $a_1, a_2,..., a_n$ such that for any integer $x$, the number $(... (((x^2 + a_1)^2 + a_2)^2 + ...)^2 + a_{n-1})^2 + a_n$ is divisible by $2n - 1$.

Find all quadruples of real numbers $(a,b,c,d)$ such that the equalities \[X^2 + a X + b = (X-a)(X-c) \text{ and } X^2 + c X + d = (X-b)(X-d)\] hold for all real numbers $X$. [i]Morteza Saghafian, Iran[/i]

For a nonnegative integer $n$ define $\operatorname{rad}(n)=1$ if $n=0$ or $n=1$, and $\operatorname{rad}(n)=p_1p_2\cdots p_k$ where $p_1<p_2<\cdots <p_k$ are all prime factors of $n$. Find all polynomials $f(x)$ with nonnegative integer coefficients such that $\operatorname{rad}(f(n))$ divides $\operatorname{rad}(f(n^{\operatorname{rad}(n)}))$ for every nonnegative integer $n$.