Primes and Symmetry

Algebra Level 2

Let p , q p,q and r r prime numbers such that their sum is an even number. Evaluate p q r 2 ( p q + q r + r p ) + 4 ( p + q + r ) pqr-2(pq + qr + rp) + 4(p + q + r) .

Source: Galois-Noether Contest

8 8 It depends on the primes. 2 2 4 4

This section requires Javascript.
You are seeing this because something didn't load right. We suggest you, (a) try refreshing the page, (b) enabling javascript if it is disabled on your browser and, finally, (c) loading the non-javascript version of this page . We're sorry about the hassle.

1 solution

Since the sum of the given primes is even, one of them must be 2 2 .

What should be noticed is that the expression to be evaluated resembles the Elementary Symmetric Polynomials and hence the Vieta's Formulas .

That said, let P ( x ) P(x) a polynomial whose roots are p , q , r p,q,r .

Using the Vieta's Formula we can construct that polynomial as

P ( x ) = x 3 ( p + q + r ) x 2 + ( p q + q r + r p ) x p q r P(x)=x^3 - (p+q+r)x^2 + (pq + qr + rp)x - pqr

Since 2 2 is one of the roots, we have P ( 2 ) = 0 P(2)=0 .

If we substitute x = 2 x=2 ,

P ( 2 ) = 8 ( p + q + r ) 4 + ( p q + q r + r p ) 2 + p q r = 0 P(2) = 8 - (p+q+r)4 + (pq + qr + rp)2+ pqr=0

Thus,

p q r 2 ( p q + q r + r p ) + 4 ( p + q + r ) = 8 pqr - 2(pq + qr + rp) + 4(p+ q + r) = \boxed{8}

0 pending reports

×

Problem Loading...

Note Loading...

Set Loading...