Problem

Source: Belarusian olympiad 2021

Tags: quadratics, algebra, polynomial



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 $Q$