Complex

Algebra Level 4

If i + 1 \sqrt{i + 1} is a root of the polynomial with integer coefficients of the lowest degree, find the sum of the cubes of the roots of this polynomial.

Clarification : i = 1 i=\sqrt{-1} .


The answer is 0.

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1 solution

Efren Medallo
Aug 8, 2016

If 1 + i \sqrt{1+i} is a root of this particular polynomial, then its negative must also be a root. That gives us an equation

f ( x ) = x 2 ( 1 + i ) f(x) = x^2 - (1+i)

however, this still contains a complex part. Thus this needs another factor that will cancel this out. This gives us

f ( x ) = [ x 2 ( 1 + i ) ] [ x 2 ( 1 i ) ] f(x) = [x^2 - (1+i)][x^2 - (1-i)]

f ( x ) = x 4 2 x 2 + 2 f(x) = x^4 - 2x^2 + 2

From here, we use Newton's sums to find the sum cubes of the roots.

P 1 = 0 P_1 = 0

P 2 = 0 2 ( 2 ) = 4 P_2 = 0 - 2(-2) = 4

P 3 = 0 ( P 2 ) 2 P 1 + 3 ( 0 ) = 0 P_3 = 0(P_2) - 2P_1 + 3(0) = \boxed {0}

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