Zeros Problems
Zeros Problems
1
6. (68P) Determine all polynomials of the form
n
�
ai xn−i with ai = ±1
0
7. (81P) Let P (x) be a polynomial with real coefficients and form the
polynomial
� �
Q(x) = (x2 + 1)P (x)P (x) + x(P (x)2 + P (x)2 ).
Given that the equation P (x) = 0 has n distinct real roots exceeding
1, prove or disprove that the equation Q(x) = 0 has at least 2n − 1
distinct real roots.
pn (x) = a0 + a1 x + a2 x2 + · · · + an xn
10. (91P) Find all real polynomials p(x) of degree n ∈ 2 for which there
exist real numbers r1 < r2 < · · · < rn such that
(i) p(ri ) = 0, i = 1, 2, . . . , n,
and
� ri +ri+1 �
(ii) p≤ 2
= 0, i = 1, 2, . . . , n − 1,
11. (a) (85P) (relatively easy) Let k be the smallest positive integer with
the following property:
2
There are distinct integers m1 , m2 , m3 , m4 , m5 such that the
polynomial p(x) = (x − m1 )(x − m2 )(x − m3 )(x − m4 )(x − m5 )
has exactly k nonzero coefficients.
Find, with proof, a set of integers m1 , m2 , m3 , m4 , m5 for which
this minimum k is achieved.
(b) (considerably more difficult) Let P (x) = x11 + a10 x10 + · · · + a0
be a monic polynomial of degree eleven with real coefficients ai ,
with a0 ≤= 0. Suppose that all the zeros of P (x) are real, i.e., if
� is a complex number such that P (�) = 0, then � is real. Find
(with proof) the least possible number of nonzero coefficients of
P (x) (including the coefficient 1 of x11 ).
12. (99P) Let P (x) be a polynomial of degree n such that P (x) = Q(x)P ≤≤ (x),
where Q(x) is a quadratic polynomial and P ≤≤ (x) is the second deriva
tive of P (x). Show that if P (x) has at least two distinct roots then it
must have n distinct roots.
13. (a) (05P) Let p(z) be a polynomial of degree n, all of whose zeros
have absolute value 1 in the complex plane. Put g(z) = p(z)/z n/2 .
Show that all zeros of g ≤ (z) = 0 have absolute value 1.
(b) (00P) Let f (t) = N
�
j=1 aj sin(2�jt), where each aj is real and aN
is not equal to 0. Let Nk denote the number of zeros (including
k
multiplicities) of ddtkf in the half-open interval [0, 1). Prove that
(On the original Exam, it was not stated that the zeros should be
taken in [0, 1).)
14. Let ax3 + bx2 + cx + d be a polynomial with three distinct real roots.
How many real roots are there of the equation
15. Does there exist a finite set M of nonzero real numbers, such that for
any positive integer n, there exists a polynomial of degree at least n
with all coefficients in M, all of whose roots are real and belong to M ?
3
16. Suppose that the polynomial ax2 + (c − b)x + (e − d) has two real roots,
both greater than 1. Prove that ax4 + bx3 + cx2 + dx + e has at least
one real root.
17. Suppose that a, b, c � C are such that the roots of the polynomial z 3 +
az 2 +bz+c all satisfy |z| = 1. Prove that the roots of x3 +|a|x2 +|b|x+|c|
all satisfy |x| = 1.
Show that
Use this formula to establish a connection between �(P (x)) and the
�
values P (xi ), 1 � i � n.
20. Let P (x) be a polynomial with complex coefficients such that every
root has real part a. Let z � C with |z | = 1. Show that every root of
the polynomial R(x) = P (x − 1) − zP (x) has real part a + 21 .
21. Let d ∈ 1. It is not hard to see that there exists a polynomial Ad (x) of
degree d such that
� Ad (x)
Fd (x) := nd xn = . (1)
n∈0
(1 − x)d+1
4
For instance, A1 (x) = x, A2 (x) = x + x2 , A3 (x) = x + 4x2 + x3 . Show
that every root of Ad (x) is real. Hint. First obtain a recurrence for
Ad (x) by differentiating (1).
22. Let P (z) = z n +an−1 z n−1 + · · ·+a0 be a monic polynomial with complex
coefficients. Choose j � {0, . . . , n} so that the roots of P can be labeled
�1 , . . . , �n with
Prove that
j
� �
|�i | � |a0 |2 + · · · + |an−1 |2 + 1.
i=1
23. Let Q(x) be any monic polynomial of degree n with real coefficients.
Prove that
sup |Q(x)| ∈ 2.
x�[−2,2]
and examine the values of Pn (x) − Q(x) at points where |Pn (x)| = 2.
Optional. Prove that equality only holds for Q = Pn .
24. Let P (x), Q(x) be two polynomials with all real roots r1 � r2 � · · · �
rn and s1 � s2 � · · · � sn−1 , respectively. We say that P (x) and Q(x)
are interlaced if
r1 � s1 � r2 � s2 � · · · � sn−1 � rn .
Prove that P (x) and Q(x) are interlaced if and only if the polynomial
P + tQ has all real roots for all t � R.
25. Let P (x) be a polynomial with real coefficients. For t � R, let V (P, t)
denote the number of sign changes in the sequence
5
(A sign change in a sequence is a pair of terms, one positive and one
negative, with only zeros in between.) Prove that for any a, b � R,
the number of roots of P in the half-open interval (a, b], counted with
multiplicities, is equal to V (P, a) − V (P, b) minus a nonnegative even
integer. Then deduce Descartes’s rule of signs as a corollary.
26. Let P (x) be a squarefree polynomial with real coefficients. Define the
sequence of polynomials P0 , P1 , . . . by setting P0 = P , P1 = P ≤ , and