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HSC 2015 MX2 Marathon ADVANCED (archive) (1 Viewer)

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Sy123

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Re: HSC 2015 4U Marathon - Advanced Level

If has integer coefficients, then the product of its roots must be of a rational form (the quotient of two integers, the leading coefficient and the constant). To rationalize such a product with some irrational we must have its conjugate as a necessary root.
What about for example a polynomial with roots and ?

Just knowing about the product of roots alone is not enough to conclude that each irrational pair needs its conjugate
 

SilentWaters

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Re: HSC 2015 4U Marathon - Advanced Level

Alternatively, set:




where the coefficients of , together with a and b, are rational. Since is a root,



But here we'd need an equality of a rational and irrational side for non-zero and :



This forces us to have , which makes our conjugate pairs indeed roots of without remainder.
 

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Re: HSC 2015 4U Marathon - Advanced Level

 

seanieg89

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Re: HSC 2015 4U Marathon - Advanced Level

Writing e=(f+(-f))/2, o=(f-(-f))/2 we can write any function as the sum of an odd and even part.

p(k)=p(-k) for all k implies that the odd part of p must vanish at 1,2,...,n. As any odd function also vanishes at zero, this odd part must be the zero polynomial. (It has more roots than its degree).

By direct calculation though, the odd part of a real polynomial is just the sum of terms with odd degree. Saying this is zero is just saying that all terms in p have even degree, from which the conclusion follows.
 

Sy123

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Re: HSC 2015 4U Marathon - Advanced Level

Writing e=(f+(-f))/2, o=(f-(-f))/2 we can write any function as the sum of an odd and even part.

p(k)=p(-k) for all k implies that the odd part of p must vanish at 1,2,...,n. As any odd function also vanishes at zero, this odd part must be the zero polynomial. (It has more roots than its degree).

By direct calculation though, the odd part of a real polynomial is just the sum of terms with odd degree. Saying this is zero is just saying that all terms in p have even degree, from which the conclusion follows.
Nice!

Here is my solution:

 

Sy123

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Re: HSC 2015 4U Marathon - Advanced Level

 

seanieg89

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Re: HSC 2015 4U Marathon - Advanced Level

Here is the most elementary proof I know of the fundamental theorem of algebra.

(You may assume that every continuous function attains a minimum on any disk of the form . This means that there exists such that for all .)

Let P be a degree n polynomial with no complex roots.

1. Show that



for all z with



2. Deduce that attains a nonzero minimum over all of at some .

3. Let



Show that the constant term of Q is 1. Let be the nonzero term of least positive degree.

4. Explain why we can find complex c with

5. Show that for some polynomial S.

6. Show that for some small positive x.

7. Deduce a contradiction, and make your conclusion.
 
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InteGrand

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Re: HSC 2015 4U Marathon - Advanced Level

I think we need to add the condition that the polynomial has only real coefficients, since otherwise, we could have non-real roots not coming in conjugate pairs, which could satisfy the given inequality.

Also, the greater than sign should be a greater-than-or-equal-to sign I think, since there could be a real triple root, which would make the LHS equal to 0.
 

seanieg89

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Re: HSC 2015 4U Marathon - Advanced Level

I think we need to add the condition that the polynomial has only real coefficients, since otherwise, we could have non-real roots not coming in conjugate pairs, which could satisfy the given inequality.

Also, the greater than sign should be a greater-than-or-equal-to sign I think, since there could be a real triple root, which would make the LHS equal to 0.
If there are any multiple roots at all (real or not), equality holds, so we have no iff.

The statement should probably be:

For real polys, show that all three roots are distinct and real iff blah > 0.
 
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dan964

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Re: HSC 2015 4U Marathon - Advanced Level

a polynomial of order n
has roots sin and cosine of Pi/(4n) respectively
for n>0
(I) Deduce using Demouivre's Theorem where necessary that n is of the form 4k + 1
(II) Prove by mathematical induction
that the product of the roots is always -sqrt(0.5)

part (I) is easy
part (II) hard
 
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turntaker

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Re: HSC 2015 4U Marathon - Advanced Level

Euler's>demoives
 

Sy123

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Re: HSC 2015 4U Marathon - Advanced Level

 

Sy123

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Re: HSC 2015 4U Marathon - Advanced Level

The angle alpha is variable remember!

So we need to minimise the angle alpha, so R is only 1 point on the plane (rather than a circle on the plane p), the specific point that lies on the line on the plane p that has the smallest angle between it and PQ
 

Sy123

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Re: HSC 2015 4U Marathon - Advanced Level

The angle alpha is variable remember!

So we need to minimise the angle alpha, so R is only 1 point on the plane (rather than a circle on the plane p), the specific point that lies on the line on the plane p that has the smallest angle between it and PQ
 
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