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Saudi Arabia algebra
Problem
Let non-constant polynomial with real coefficients is given with the following property: for any positive integer and , the value of expression Prove that is divisible by .
Solution
Without loss of generality one may assume that . Since for all positive , we have is integer, then we conclude that on all positive integer points our polynomial gets integer values. Assume that then, according to Lagrange interpolation formula we get and all numbers are rational, so is a polynomial with rational coefficients. By multiplying by a constant we can get with integer coefficients. If then we are done. Assume that . Let's fix positive integer and denote and . According to the problem condition, we have for all positive integer . Since is polynomial with integer coefficients, then which means for all positive integers . It means or is divisible by .
Techniques
Polynomial interpolation: Newton, LagrangePolynomial operationsOther