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

Tags were heavily modified to better represent problems.

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Found problems: 117

2005 Greece Team Selection Test, 1
Tags: algebra , polynomial , root
The side lengths of a triangle are the roots of a cubic polynomial with rational coefficients. Prove that the altitudes of this triangle are roots of a polynomial of sixth degree with rational coefficients.

1995 Singapore MO Open, 1
Tags: polynomial , rational , algebra , root
Suppose that the rational numbers $a, b$ and $c$ are the roots of the equation $x^3+ax^2 + bx + c = 0$. Find all such rational numbers $a, b$ and $c$. Justify your answer

2015 Israel National Olympiad, 3
Tags: algebra , root , cube roots
Prove that the number $\left(\frac{76}{\frac{1}{\sqrt[3]{77}-\sqrt[3]{75}}-\sqrt[3]{5775}}+\frac{1}{\frac{76}{\sqrt[3]{77}+\sqrt[3]{75}}+\sqrt[3]{5775}}\right)^3$ is an integer.

1973 Putnam, A4
Tags: function , root , real analysis
How many zeroes does the function $f(x)=2^x -1 -x^2 $ have on the real line?

2006 German National Olympiad, 5
Tags: root , absolute value , polynomial , inequalities
Let $x \neq 0$ be a real number satisfying $ax^2+bx+c=0$ with $a,b,c \in \mathbb{Z}$ obeying $|a|+|b|+|c| > 1$. Then prove \[ |x| \geq \frac{1}{|a|+|b|+|c|-1}. \]

1966 IMO Longlists, 48
Tags: algebra , equation , number theory , root , parametric equation
For which real numbers $p$ does the equation $x^{2}+px+3p=0$ have integer solutions ?

2006 Polish MO Finals, 3
Tags: coefficient , algebra , polynomial , root , quadratic
Find all pairs of integers $a,b$ for which there exists a polynomial $P(x) \in \mathbb{Z}[X]$ such that product $(x^2+ax+b)\cdot P(x)$ is a polynomial of a form \[ x^n+c_{n-1}x^{n-1}+\cdots+c_1x+c_0 \] where each of $c_0,c_1,\ldots,c_{n-1}$ is equal to $1$ or $-1$.

1958 February Putnam, A1
Tags: root , polynomial
If $a_0 , a_1 ,\ldots, a_n$ are real number satisfying $$ \frac{a_0 }{1} + \frac{a_1 }{2} + \ldots + \frac{a_n }{n+1}=0,$$ show that the equation $a_n x^n + \ldots +a_1 x+a_0 =0$ has at least one real root.

2013 India PRMO, 16
Tags: root , sum , algebra
Let $f(x) = x^3 - 3x + b$ and $g(x) = x^2 + bx -3$, where $b$ is a real number. What is the sum of all possible values of $b$ for which the equations $f(x)$ = 0 and $g(x) = 0$ have a common root?

1956 Putnam, B7
Tags: algebra , polynomial , root
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 $$P(z)+1 \;\; \text{and} \;\; Q(z)+1.$$ Prove that $P(z)=Q(z).$

1961 Putnam, B6
Tags: function , differential equation , root
Consider the function $y(x)$ satisfying the differential equation $y'' = -(1+\sqrt{x})y$ with $y(0)=1$ and $y'(0)=0.$ Prove that $y(x)$ vanishes exactly once on the interval $0< x< \pi \slash 2,$ and find a positive lower bound for the zero.

Kvant 2023, M2738
Tags: algebra , root
The real numbers $a_1,a_2,a_3$ and $b{}$ are given. The equation \[(x-a_1)(x-a_2)(x-a_3)=b\]has three distinct real roots, $c_1,c_2,c_3.$ Determine the roots of the equation \[(x+c_1)(x+c_2)(x+c_3)=b.\][i]Proposed by A. Antropov and K. Sukhov[/i]

1953 Putnam, B5
Tags: root , polynomial
Show that the roots of $x^4 +ax^3 +bx^2 +cx +d$, if suitably numbered, satisfy the relation $\frac{r_1 }{r_2 } = \frac{ r_3 }{r _4},$ provided $a^2 d=c^2 \ne 0.$

1976 IMO Shortlist, 9
Tags: algebra , polynomial , recurrence relation , root , chebyshev polynomial
Let $P_{1}(x)=x^{2}-2$ and $P_{j}(x)=P_{1}(P_{j-1}(x))$ for j$=2,\ldots$ Prove that for any positive integer n the roots of the equation $P_{n}(x)=x$ are all real and distinct.

1982 IMO Shortlist, 7
Tags: algebra , polynomial , root , cubic
Let $p(x)$ be a cubic polynomial with integer coefficients with leading coefficient $1$ and with one of its roots equal to the product of the other two. Show that $2p(-1)$ is a multiple of $p(1)+p(-1)-2(1+p(0)).$

1940 Putnam, B5
Tags: polynomial , rational , algebra , root
Suppose that the rational numbers $a, b$ and $c$ are the roots of the equation $x^3+ax^2 + bx + c = 0$. Find all such rational numbers $a, b$ and $c$. Justify your answer

2016 Junior Regional Olympiad - FBH, 2
Tags: root , algebra
If $$w=\sqrt{1+\sqrt{-3+2\sqrt{3}}}-\sqrt{1-\sqrt{-3+2\sqrt{3}}}$$ prove that $w=\sqrt{3}-1$

2014 India PRMO, 6
Tags: trinomial , integer , root , minimum
What is the smallest possible natural number $n$ for which the equation $x^2 -nx + 2014 = 0$ has integer roots?

2016 Saudi Arabia BMO TST, 1
Tags: algebra , root , polynomial
Given that the polynomial $P(x) = x^5 - x^2 + 1$ has $5$ roots $r_1, r_2, r_3, r_4, r_5$. Find the value of the product $Q(r_1)Q(r_2)Q(r_3)Q(r_4)Q(r_5)$, where $Q(x) = x^2 + 1$.

1969 IMO Shortlist, 14
Tags: quadratic , algebra , inequality , root , polynomial
$(CZS 3)$ Let $a$ and $b$ be two positive real numbers. If $x$ is a real solution of the equation $x^2 + px + q = 0$ with real coefficients $p$ and $q$ such that $|p| \le a, |q| \le b,$ prove that $|x| \le \frac{1}{2}(a +\sqrt{a^2 + 4b})$ Conversely, if $x$ satisfies the above inequality, prove that there exist real numbers $p$ and $q$ with $|p|\le a, |q|\le b$ such that $x$ is one of the roots of the equation $x^2+px+ q = 0.$

1991 IMO Shortlist, 21
Tags: algebra , polynomial , functional equation , root
Let $ f(x)$ be a monic polynomial of degree $ 1991$ with integer coefficients. Define $ g(x) \equal{} f^2(x) \minus{} 9.$ Show that the number of distinct integer solutions of $ g(x) \equal{} 0$ cannot exceed $ 1995.$

2016 CentroAmerican, 3
Tags: algebra , polynomial , root
The polynomial $Q(x)=x^3-21x+35$ has three different real roots. Find real numbers $a$ and $b$ such that the polynomial $x^2+ax+b$ cyclically permutes the roots of $Q$, that is, if $r$, $s$ and $t$ are the roots of $Q$ (in some order) then $P(r)=s$, $P(s)=t$ and $P(t)=r$.

1953 Putnam, A7
Tags: trigonometry , polynomial , root
Assuming that the roots of $x^3 +px^2 +qx +r=0$ are all real and positive, find the relation between $p,q,r$ which is a necessary and sufficient condition that the roots are the cosines of the angles of a triangle.

2018 Junior Regional Olympiad - FBH, 3
Tags: compare , root
Let $a$, $b$ and $m$ be three positive real numbers and $a>b$. Which of the numbers $A=\sqrt{a+m}-\sqrt{a}$ and $B=\sqrt{b+m}-\sqrt{b}$ is bigger:

1968 IMO Shortlist, 11
Tags: algebra , equation , root
Find all solutions $(x_1, x_2, . . . , x_n)$ of the equation \[1 +\frac{1}{x_1} + \frac{x_1+1}{x{}_1x{}_2}+\frac{(x_1+1)(x_2+1)}{x{}_1{}_2x{}_3} +\cdots + \frac{(x_1+1)(x_2+1) \cdots (x_{n-1}+1)}{x{}_1x{}_2\cdots x_n} =0\]