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jmc

algebra senior

Problem

Suppose the polynomial has integer coefficients, and its roots are distinct integers.

Given that and , what is the least possible value of ?
Solution
Since has integer coefficients, the Integer Root Theorem tells us that all integer roots of must divide the constant term . Thus, the possible integer roots of are Moreover, since we know that all roots of are integers, we know that all roots of appear in the list above.

Now we apply Vieta's formulas. The product of the roots of is , which is or . Also, the sum of the roots is . Thus, in order to minimize , we should make the absolute value of the sum of the roots as small as possible, working under the constraint that the product of the roots must be or .

We now consider two cases.

Case 1 is that one of is a root, in which case the only other possible roots are . In this case, the absolute value of the sum of the roots is at least .

The alternative, Case 2, is that one of is a root and one of is a root. Again, the only other possible roots are , so the absolute value of the sum of the roots is at least , which is better than the result of Case 1. If the absolute value of the sum of the roots is , then .

Therefore, we have shown that , and we can check that equality is achieved by which has integer coefficients and integer roots. So the least possible value of is .
Final answer
14