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Algebra Level 3

Let f ( x ) f(x) be a polynomial of degree 4 with integer coefficients, leading coefficient 1, and having 10 + 11 \sqrt{10} + \sqrt{11} as one of its zeros. What is f ( 1 ) f(1) ?


The answer is -40.

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1 solution

Chew-Seong Cheong
Oct 27, 2017

Since a root of f ( x ) f(x) is 11 + 10 \sqrt{11}+\sqrt{10} , to have integer coefficient, we can assume another positive root is 11 10 \sqrt{11}-\sqrt{10} . Let the remaining two real roots be a a and b b , Then, we have:

f ( x ) = ( x 11 10 ) ( x 11 + 10 ) ( x a ) ( x b ) = ( ( x 11 ) 2 10 ) ( x a ) ( x b ) = ( x 2 2 11 x + 1 ) ( x a ) ( x b ) \begin{aligned} f(x) & = \left(x-\sqrt{11}-\sqrt{10}\right)\left(x-\sqrt{11}+\sqrt{10}\right)(x-a)(x-b) \\ & = \left((x-\sqrt{11})^2-10\right)(x-a)(x-b) \\ & = \left(x^2 - 2\sqrt{11}x + 1\right) (x-a)(x-b) \end{aligned}

To have integer coefficients, ( x a ) ( x b ) = ( x 2 + 2 11 x + 1 ) = ( x + 11 + 10 ) ( x + 11 10 ) (x-a)(x-b) = \left(x^2 + 2\sqrt{11}x + 1\right) = \left(x+\sqrt{11}+\sqrt{10}\right)\left(x+\sqrt{11}-\sqrt{10}\right) . Then we have:

f ( x ) = ( x 2 2 11 x + 1 ) ( x 2 + 2 11 x + 1 ) f ( x ) = x 4 42 x 2 + 1 with all integer coefficients f ( 1 ) = 40 \begin{aligned} f(x) & = \left(x^2 - 2\sqrt{11}x + 1\right) \left(x^2 + 2\sqrt{11}x + 1\right) \\ \implies f(x) & = x^4 - 42x^2+1 & \small \color{#3D99F6} \text{with all integer coefficients} \\ f(1) & = \boxed{-40} \end{aligned}

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