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algebra senior
Problem
How many polynomials of the form , where , , , and are real numbers, have the property that whenever is a root, so is ? (Note that )
(A)
(B)
(C)
(D)
Solution
Let . We first notice that . That is because of Euler's Formula : . = = . In order to be a root of , must also be a root of P, meaning that 3 of the roots of must be , , . However, since is degree 5, there must be two additional roots. Let one of these roots be , if is a root, then and must also be roots. However, is a fifth degree polynomial, and can therefore only have roots. This implies that is either , , or . Thus we know that the polynomial can be written in the form . Moreover, by Vieta's, we know that there is only one possible value for the magnitude of as , meaning that the amount of possible polynomials is equivalent to the possible sets . In order for the coefficients of the polynomial to all be real, due to and being conjugates and since , (as the polynomial is 5th degree) we have two possible solutions for which are and yielding two possible polynomials. The answer is thus .
Final answer
C