Only real roots!

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k = 1 999 ( x 2 47 x + k ) = ( x 2 47 x + 1 ) ( x 2 47 x + 2 ) ( x 2 47 x + 999 ) \displaystyle \prod_{k=1}^{999} (x^2-47x+k) = (x^2-47x+1)(x^2-47x+2)\dots(x^2-47x+999)

If the product of all real roots of the polynomial above can be expressed as n ! n! , what is the value of n n ?


The answer is 552.

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1 solution

Ben Frankel
Dec 16, 2013

A root of the given polynomial is a value of x x that makes one of the 999 polynomial factors equal to 0 0 . Since we are only taking into account real roots, we will figure out which roots are complex by looking at the discriminants of each polynomial.

Δ k = 4 7 2 4 k = 2209 4 k \Delta_k = 47^2 - 4k = 2209 - 4k

Whenever Δ k \Delta_k is negative, the quadratic only has complex roots. 4 k > 2209 4k > 2209 for all k > 552 k > 552 , so we can disregard everything beyond k = 552 k = 552 .

We will use the quadratic formula:

If x 2 47 x + k = 0 x^2 - 47x + k = 0 , then x = 47 ± 2209 4 k 2 x = \frac{47 \pm \sqrt{2209 - 4k}}{2} . Since we are being asked for the product of all of the real roots, let's first take the product of the two roots of each individual polynomial:

47 + 2209 4 k 2 47 2209 4 k 2 = 4 7 2 ( 2209 4 k ) 2 4 = 2209 2209 + 4 k 4 = k \frac{47 + \sqrt{2209 - 4k}}{2} \cdot \frac{47 - \sqrt{2209 - 4k}}{2} = \frac{47^2 - (\sqrt{2209 - 4k})^2}{4} = \frac{2209 - 2209 + 4k}{4} = k

Now with all of this work out of the way, the product of all roots is k = 1 552 k = 552 ! \prod_{k=1}^{552}k = 552!

So if the product of all roots can be expressed as n ! n! , n = 552 n = \boxed{552} .

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