Browse · MATH
Printjmc
algebra junior
Problem
The polynomial has one integer root. What is it?
Solution
By the Integer Root Theorem, any integer root must be a divisor of the constant term -- thus, in this case, a (positive or negative) divisor of . However, this leaves quite a lot of candidates: To narrow our choices, we define another polynomial. Note that Then by the Factor Theorem, is divisible by In other words, for some polynomial . Thus if we define , then we have so has a constant term of . Thus any integer root of is a divisor of ; the possibilities are This is useful because, if is a root of , then , so must appear in the list of roots of . In particular, must be more than a root of , which gives the possibilities Of these, only , , , and were candidates in our original list. Testing them one by one, we find that is the only integer root of .
Final answer
12