This website contains problems from math contests. Problems and corresponding tags were obtained from the Art of Problem Solving website.

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Found problems: 4275

Quadratic polynomials $P(x)$ and $Q(x)$ with leading coefficients $1$, both of which have real roots, are called friendly if for all $t \in [0,1]$ quadratic polynomial $tP(x)+(1-t)Q(x)$ also has real roots. a) Provide an example of quadratic polynomials $P(x)$ and $Q(x)$ with leading coefficients $1$ and which have real roots, that are not friendly. b) Prove that for any two quadratic polynomials $P(x)$ and $Q(x)$ with leading coefficients $1$ that have real roots, there is a quadratic polynomial $R(x)$ which has a leading coefficient $1$ and which is friendly to both $P$ and $Q$
For a certain complex number $c$, the polynomial \[ P(x) = (x^2 - 2x + 2)(x^2 - cx + 4)(x^2 - 4x + 8)\] has exactly 4 distinct roots. What is $|c|$? $\textbf{(A) } 2 \qquad \textbf{(B) } \sqrt{6} \qquad \textbf{(C) } 2\sqrt{2} \qquad \textbf{(D) } 3 \qquad \textbf{(E) } \sqrt{10}$
Assume that $P(x)$ is a polynomial with integer non negative coefficients, different from constant. Baron Munchausen claims that he can restore $P(x)$ provided he knows the values of $P(2)$ and $P(P(2))$ only. Is the baron's claim valid?
Define the [i]hotel elevator cubic [/i]as the unique cubic polynomial $P$ for which $P(11) = 11$, $P(12) = 12$, $P(13) = 14$, $P(14) = 15$. What is $P(15)$? [i]Proposed by Evan Chen[/i]
Given a real number $t\ge3$, suppose a polynomial $f\in\mathbb R[x]$ satisfies $$\left|f(k)-t^k\right|<1,\enspace\forall k=0,1,\ldots,n.$$Prove that $\deg f\ge n$.
Find all pairs of polynomials $p$, $q$ with complex coefficients so that \[p(x)\cdot q(x)=p(q(x)).\]
Let $P(x), Q(x), $ and $R(x)$ be three monic quadratic polynomials with only real roots, satisfying $$P(Q(x))=(x-1)(x-3)(x-5)(x-7)$$$$Q(R(x))=(x-2)(x-4)(x-6)(x-8)$$ for all real numbers $x.$ What is $P(0)+Q(0)+R(0)?$ [i]Proposed by Kyle Lee[/i]
Suppose the side lengths of triangle $ABC$ are the roots of polynomial $x^3 - 27x^2 + 222x - 540$. What is the product of its inradius and circumradius?
Find all second degree polynomials $P(x)$ such that for all $a \in\mathbb{R} , a \geq 1$, then $P(a^2+a) \geq a.P(a+1)$
Let $ f \ne 0$ be a polynomial with real coefficients. Define the sequence $ f_{0}, f_{1}, f_{2}, \ldots$ of polynomials by $ f_{0}= f$ and $ f_{n+1}= f_{n}+f_{n}'$ for every $ n \ge 0$. Prove that there exists a number $ N$ such that for every $ n \ge N$, all roots of $ f_{n}$ are real.
Prove that for all $X > 1$, there exists a triangle whose sides have lengths $P_1(X) = X^4+X^3+2X^2+X+1, P_2(X) = 2X^3+X^2+2X+1$, and $P_3(X) = X^4-1$. Prove that all these triangles have the same greatest angle and calculate it.
If $b_{1}, b_{2}, \ldots, b_{n}$ are non-negative reals not all zero, then prove that the polynomial \[x^{n}-b_{1}x^{n-1}-b_{2}x^{n-2}-\ldots-b_{n}=0\] has only one positive root $p$, which is simple. Moreover prove that any root of the polynomial does not exceed $p$ in absolute value.
An equation $P(x)=Q(y)$ is called [b]Interesting[/b] if $P$ and $Q$ are polynomials with degree at least one and integer coefficients and the equations has an infinite number of answers in $\mathbb{N}$. An interesting equation $P(x)=Q(y)$ [b]yields in[/b] interesting equation $F(x)=G(y)$ if there exists polynomial $R(x) \in \mathbb{Q} [x]$ such that $F(x) \equiv R(P(x))$ and $G(x) \equiv R(Q(x))$. (a) Suppose that $S$ is an infinite subset of $\mathbb{N} \times \mathbb{N}$.$S$ [i]is an answer[/i] of interesting equation $P(x)=Q(y)$ if each element of $S$ is an answer of this equation. Prove that for each $S$ there's an interesting equation $P_0(x)=Q_0(y)$ such that if there exists any interesting equation that $S$ is an answer of it, $P_0(x)=Q_0(y)$ yields in that equation. (b) Define the degree of an interesting equation $P(x)=Q(y)$ by $max\{deg(P),deg(Q)\}$. An interesting equation is called [b]primary[/b] if there's no other interesting equation with lower degree that yields in it. Prove that if $P(x)=Q(y)$ is a primary interesting equation and $P$ and $Q$ are monic then $(deg(P),deg(Q))=1$. Time allowed for this question was 2 hours.
Let $a$ and $b$ be integers. Find all polynomial with integer coefficients sucht that $P(n)$ divides $P(an+b)$ for infinitely many positive integer $n$
Determine the range of $w(w + x)(w + y)(w + z)$, where $x, y, z$, and $w$ are real numbers such that \[x + y + z + w = x^7 + y^7 + z^7 + w^7 = 0.\]
Christian Reiher and Reid Barton want to open a security box, they already managed to discover the algorithm to generate the key codes and they obtained the following information: $i)$ In the screen of the box will appear a sequence of $n+1$ numbers, $C_0 = (a_{0,1},a_{0,2},...,a_{0,n+1})$ $ii)$ If the code $K = (k_1,k_2,...,k_n)$ opens the security box then the following must happen: a) A sequence $C_i = (a_{i,1},a_{i,2},...,a_{i,n+1})$ will be asigned to each $k_i$ defined as follows: $a_{i,1} = 1$ and $a_{i,j} = a_{i-1,j}-k_ia_{i,j-1}$, for $i,j \ge 1$ b) The sequence $(C_n)$ asigned to $k_n$ satisfies that $S_n = \sum_{i=1}^{n+1}|a_i|$ has its least possible value, considering all possible sequences $K$. The sequence $C_0$ that appears in the screen is the following: $a_{0,1} = 1$ and $a_0,i$ is the sum of the products of the elements of each of the subsets with $i-1$ elements of the set $A =$ {$1,2,3,...,n$}, $i\ge 2$, such that $a_{0, n+1} = n!$ Find a sequence $K = (k_1,k_2,...,k_n)$ that satisfies the conditions of the problem and show that there exists at least $n!$ of them.
What is the maximum number of points of intersection of the graphs of two different fourth degree polynomial functions $ y \equal{} p(x)$ and $ y \equal{} q(x)$, each with leading coefficient $ 1$? $ \textbf{(A)}\ 1 \qquad \textbf{(B)}\ 2 \qquad \textbf{(C)}\ 3 \qquad \textbf{(D)}\ 4 \qquad \textbf{(E)}\ 8$
$p(x_1, x_2, ... , x_n)$ is a polynomial with integer coefficients. For each positive integer $r, k(r)$ is the number of $n$-tuples $(a_1, a_2,... , a_n)$ such that $0 \le a_i \le r-1 $ and $p(a_1, a_2, ... , a_n)$ is prime to $r$. Show that if $u$ and $v$ are coprime then $k(u\cdot v) = k(u)\cdot k(v)$, and if p is prime then $k(p^s) = p^{n(s-1)} k(p)$.
Let $n \ge 2$ be an integer and $f_1(x), f_2(x), \ldots, f_{n}(x)$ a sequence of polynomials with integer coefficients. One is allowed to make moves $M_1, M_2, \ldots $ as follows: in the $k$-th move $M_k$ one chooses an element $f(x)$ of the sequence with degree of $f$ at least $2$ and replaces it with $(f(x) - f(k))/(x-k)$. The process stops when all the elements of the sequence are of degree $1$. If $f_1(x) = f_2(x) = \cdots = f_n(x) = x^n + 1$, determine whether or not it is possible to make appropriate moves such that the process stops with a sequence of $n$ identical polynomials of degree 1.
Let $a$ and $b$ be the roots of the polynomial $x^2+2020x+c$. Given that $\frac{a}{b}+\frac{b}{a}=98$, compute $\sqrt c$.
Let $P(z) = z^8 + (4\sqrt{3} + 6) z^4 - (4\sqrt{3}+7)$. What is the minimum perimeter among all the 8-sided polygons in the complex plane whose vertices are precisely the zeros of $P(z)$? $ \textbf{(A)}\ 4\sqrt{3}+4 \qquad \textbf{(B)}\ 8\sqrt{2} \qquad \textbf{(C)}\ 3\sqrt{2}+3\sqrt{6} \qquad \textbf{(D)}\ 4\sqrt{2}+4\sqrt{3} \qquad $ $\textbf{(E)}\ 4\sqrt{3}+6 $
Find the number of cubic polynomials $p(x) = x^3 + ax^2 + bx + c$, where $a$, $b$, and $c$ are integers in $\{-20, -19,-18, \dots , 18, 19, 20\}$, such that there is a unique integer $m \neq 2$ with $p(m) = p(2)$.
Prove that for all positive integers $n$, all complex roots $r$ of the polynomial \[P(x) = (2n)x^{2n} + (2n-1)x^{2n-1} + \dots + (n+1)x^{n+1} + nx^n + (n+1)x^{n-1} + \dots + (2n-1)x + 2n\] lie on the unit circle (i.e. $|r| = 1$).
Is it true that for $\forall$ prime number $p$, there exist non-constant polynomials $P$ and $Q$ with $P,Q\in \mathbb{Z} [x]$ for which the remainder modulo $p$ of the coefficient in front of $x^n$ in the product $PQ$ is 1 for $n=0$ and $n=4$; $p-2$ for $n=2$ and is 0 for all other $n\geq 0$?
Let $P(z)=a_nz^n+a_{n-1}z^{n-1}+\ldots+a_mz^m$ be a polynomial with complex coefficients such that $a_m\neq 0, a_n\neq 0$ and $n>m$. Prove that \[\text{max}_{|z|=1}\{|P(z)|\}\ge\sqrt{2|a_ma_n|+\sum_{k=m}^{n} |a_k|^2}\]