Problem

Source: Hong Kong TST - HKTST 2022 2.2

Tags: algebra, polynomial



Let $P(x)$ be a polynomial with integer coefficients. Define a sequence ${a_n}$ by $a_0 = 0$ and $a_{n} = P(a_{n-1})$ for all $n \geq 1.$ Prove that if there exists a positive integer $m$ for which $a_m = 0,$ then $a_1 = 0$ or $a_2 = 0.$