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2020 AMC 12B Problems/Problem 17

Revision as of 17:54, 14 June 2020 by S.das93 (talk | contribs) (→‎Solution)

Problem

How many polynomials of the form $x^5 + ax^4 + bx^3 + cx^2 + dx + 2020$, where $a$, $b$, $c$, and $d$ are real numbers, have the property that whenever $r$ is a root, so is $\frac{-1+i\sqrt{3}}{2} \cdot r$? (Note that $i=\sqrt{-1}$)

$\textbf{(A) } 0 \qquad \textbf{(B) }1 \qquad \textbf{(C) } 2 \qquad \textbf{(D) } 3 \qquad \textbf{(E) } 4$

Solution

Let $P(x) = x^5+ax^4+bx^3+cx^2+dx+2020$. We first notice that $\frac{-1+i\sqrt{3}}{2} = e^{i\frac{2\pi}{3}}$, so in order $r$ to be a root of $P$, $re^{i\frac{2\pi}{3}}$ must also be a root of P, meaning that 3 of the roots of $P$ must be $r$, $re^{i\frac{2\pi}{3}}$, $re^{i\frac{4\pi}{3}}$. However, since $P$ is degree 5, there must be two additional roots. Let one of these roots be $w$, if $w$ is a root, then $we^{i\frac{2\pi}{3}}$ and $we^{i\frac{4\pi}{3}}$ must also be roots. However, $P$ is a fifth degree polynomial, and can therefore only have $5$ roots. This implies that $w$ is either $r$, $re^{i\frac{2\pi}{3}}$, or $re^{i\frac{4\pi}{3}}$. Thus we know that the polynomial $P$ can be written in the form $(x-r)^m(x-re^{i\frac{2\pi}{3}})^n(x-re^{i\frac{4\pi}{3}})^p$. Moreover, by Vieta's, we know that there is only one possible value for the magnitude of $r$ as $||r||^5 = 2020$, meaning that the amount of possible polynomials $P$ is equivalent to the possible sets $(m,n,p)$. In order for the coefficients of the polynomial to all be real, $n = p$ due to $re^{i\frac{2\pi}{3}}$ and $re^{i\frac{4\pi}{3}}$ being conjugates and since $m+n+p = 5$, (as the polynomial is 5th degree) we have two possible solutions for $(m, n, p)$ which are $(1,2,2)$ and $(3,1,1)$ yielding two possible polynomials. The answer is thus $\boxed{\textbf{(C) } 2}$.

~Murtagh


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See Also

2020 AMC 12B (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
Preceded by
Problem 16 		Followed by
Problem 18
1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20 • 21 • 22 • 23 • 24 • 25
All AMC 12 Problems and Solutions

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