Are you thinking, it's infinite.

Algebra Level 5

How many polynomial f ( x ) f(x) exist with integral coefficients, so that { f ( 7 ) = 11 f ( 11 ) = 13 \begin{cases} f(7)=11 \\ f(11)=13 \end{cases}

Note: Write 11 as your answer, if your actual answer comes out to be infinite.

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4 solutions

Pranjal Jain
Nov 2, 2014

f ( x ) = a 0 + a 1 x + a 2 x 2 + . . . . . . . f(x)=a_{0}+a_{1}x+a_{2}x^{2}+.......

  • x=7 : 11 = a 0 + 7 a 1 + 49 a 2 + . . . . . . 11=a_{0}+7a_{1}+49a_{2}+......
  • x=11 : 13 = a 0 + 11 a 1 + 121 a 2 + . . . . . . . 13=a_{0}+11a_{1}+121a_{2}+.......

Subtracting first equation from second, 2 = 4 a 1 + 72 a 2 + . . . . . . 2=4a_{1}+72a_{2}+......

Here we can see that no integral set of values of a n a_{n} exists satisfying this equation!

I also solved in similer way

Aman Sharma - 6 years, 7 months ago

I did the same

Mehul Chaturvedi - 6 years, 7 months ago

f(y)-f(x) must be divisible by (y-x)

If all the coefficients are integers

But there is a contradiction when y=11 x=7

Kenny Lau
Feb 19, 2017

This will use proof by contradiction.

Assume that such a polynomial exist.

g ( x ) : = f ( x + 7 ) 11 g(x) := f(x+7)-11 is also a polynomial with integral coefficients.

We have: { g ( 0 ) = 0 g ( 4 ) = 2 \begin{cases} g(0) &=& 0 \\\ g(4) &=& 2 \end{cases}

Composing the above polynomial with the map Z Z / 4 Z \Bbb Z \to \Bbb Z / 4 \Bbb Z gives us the contradiction 0 2 0 \equiv 2 .

Rajdeep Brahma
Apr 5, 2018

(11-7) divides f (11)-f (7)....what else needed??

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