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Belarusian Mathematical Olympiad

Belarus algebra

Problem

Find all possible non-zero integers , so that two distinct roots of the equation are also the roots of the equation .
Solution
Answer: , , .

Let be distinct roots of the equation , i.e. be the zeroes of the function and . By condition, . Let . Then are the distinct zeroes of the polynomial . So, , then Therefore, and . By the Vieta theorem , , hence . Further, or , i.e. . Note that we have , so Since and are integers, we see that is also integer, which is possible only if and . But , so and then , .

Straightforward calculation show that the obtained triple satisfy the problem condition. Indeed, the equation has two distinct roots . These numbers are the roots of the equation since
Final answer
a = 2, b = 4, c = -4

Techniques

Vieta's formulasPolynomial operationsIntegers