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smc

algebra senior

Problem

For certain real numbers , , and , the polynomial has three distinct roots, and each root of is also a root of the polynomial What is ?
(A)
(B)
(C)
(D)
Solution
Let and be the roots of . Let be the additional root of . Then from Vieta's formulas on the quadratic term of and the cubic term of , we obtain the following: Thus . Now applying Vieta's formulas on the constant term of , the linear term of , and the linear term of , we obtain: Substituting for in the bottom equation and factoring the remainder of the expression, we obtain: It follows that . But so Now we can factor in terms of as Then and Hence .
Final answer
C