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jmc

algebra senior

Problem

For how many real numbers does the quadratic equation have only integer roots for ?
Solution
Let and be the integer roots. Then by Vieta's formulas, and Thus, Applying Simon's Favorite Factoring Trick, we have The number has factors, both positive and negative; they come in pairs, with singletons and However, since the order of and does not matter, each pair should only be counted once, so there are possible values for
Final answer
10