Problem

Source: XIII International Festival of Young Mathematicians Sozopol 2024, Theme for 10-12 grade

Tags: algebra, polynomial



The Young Scientist and the Old Scientist play the following game, taking turns in an alternating fashion, with the Young Scientist starting first. The player on turn fills in one of the stars in the equation \[ x^4 + *x^3 + *x^2 + *x + * = 0 \] with a positive real number. Who has a winning strategy if the goals of the players are: a) the Young Scientist - to make the resulting equation have no real roots, and the Old Scientist -- to make it have real roots? b) the Young Scientist - to make the resulting equation have real roots, and the Old Scientist -- to make it have none?