Given 16 distinct real numbers α1,α2,...,α16. For each polynomial P, denote V(P)=P(α1)+P(α2)+...+P(α16).Prove that there is a monic polynomial Q, degQ=8 satisfying: i) V(QP)=0 for all polynomial P has degP<8. ii) Q has 8 real roots (including multiplicity).
Problem
Source: Vietnam TST 2016
Tags: algebra, polynomial, linear algebra
24.08.2016 18:45
Bump. Any solution?
25.08.2016 02:31
See: http://math.stackexchange.com/questions/1872024/construction-of-a-8-degree-polynomial-with-16-real-numbers
02.04.2017 06:09
does amyone have a bit elementary solution to this nice problem? The above is quite inaccessible for me.
07.04.2017 16:56
Something is missing here. The exact problem is "Prove that there is only one polynomial...".
23.05.2017 07:54
Who can solve it
28.02.2021 05:33
We'll prove that there is a unique monic polynomial with degree 8 which satisfies the problem's conditions. Call polynomial T∈R[x] good if it is not a zero polynomial and for every polynomial P with deg P<8, V(TP)=0. Claim 1: For every good polynomial T, deg T≥8. Proof: Suppose the contrary, there is a good polynomial T with degree less than 8. Taking P=T, we have V(T2)=0. T(α1)2+T(α2)2+⋯+T(α16)2=0Which implies T(α1)=T(α2)=⋯=T(α16)=0. As deg P<8<16, then we must have that T is a zero polynomial. Contradicting the definition of good polynomial. So, for every good polynomial T, deg T≥8. (Claim 1 is proven) Claim 2: There is a monic good polynomial with degree 8. Proof: For every non-negative integer m, define Sm=∑16i=1αmi. For every i=0,1,2,…,8, define vector vi=(Si,Si+1,…,Si+7). Because v0,v1,v2,…,v8 are all 8-dimensional vectors and there are 9 vectors, v0,v1,v2,…,v8 are linearly dependent. Therefore, there exist u0,u1,…,u8 not all zero such that u0v0+u1v1+⋯+u8v8=0If u8=0, then T(x)=u7x7+u6x6+⋯+u0 is a good polynomial. Contradicting claim 1. Therefore, u8≠0. It is easy to check that T(x)=x8+u7u8x7+u6u8x6+⋯+u0u8 is a good polynomial. (Claim 2 is proven) Claim 3: Monic good polynomial with degree 8 is unique. Proof: Suppose the contrary, there exists 2 different monic good polynomial with degree 8, T1(x) and T2(x). Notice that R(x)=T1(x)−T2(x) must be a good polynomial too. However, as T1(x) and T2(x) are both monic, deg R must be less than 8. Contradicting claim 1. (Claim 3 is proven) Now, define Q as the only monic good polynomial with degree 8. Claim 4: All roots of Q are real. Proof: Assume the contrary, not all roots of Q are real. Define x1,x2,…,xk as the root of Q (counting multiplicities). Then, k≤7. Define L(x) such that Q(x)=(x−x1)(x−x2)…(x−xk)L(x). L(x) doesn't have any real root, so either L(x)>0 ∀ x or L(x)<0 ∀ x. Notice that if we take P(x)=(x−x1)(x−x2)…(x−xk), we have V(QP)>0 if L(x)>0 ∀ x; and V(QP)<0 if L(x)<0 ∀ x. Which is a contradiction as we must have V(QP)=0. So, all roots of Q are real. (Claim 4 is proven) By claim 2,3, and 4, the problem is done