Session : 2020-21

PRMO (Handout)
Practice Problems
Sub. : Mathematics Super 30 Maths Olympiad DPP : 2

Polynomials and Their Zeroes

1. Given 3x2 + x = 1, find the value of 6x3 – x2 – 3x +2010.

2. Given a4 + a3 + a2 + a + 1 = 0. Find the value a2000 + a2010 + 1.
3. If (x2 – x – 1)n = a2nx2n + a2n – 1x2n – 1 + …+ a1x2 + a1x + a0, find the value of a0 + a2 + a4 + … + a2n.
a b c
4. If x    , then find the value of x.
bc a c a b
5. Find a natural number n, such that 28 + 210 + 2n is a perfect square number.
6. Given that f(x) is a polynomial of degree 3, and its remainders are 2x – 5 and –3x + 4 when divided by
x2 – 1 and x2 – 4 respectively. Find the f (x).
7. Factorize x4 + y4 + (x +y)4.
8. Given that f(x) = x2 + ax + b is a polynomial with integral coefficients. If f is a common factor of
polynomials g(x) = x4 – 3x3 + 2x2 – 3x + 1 and h(x) = 3x4 – 9x3 + 2x2 + 3x – 1, find f(x).
9. For any non-negative integers m, n, p, prove that the polynomial x3m + x3n + 1 + x3p + 2 has the factor x2 +
x + 1.
10. When f(x) = x3 + 2x2 + 3x + 2 is divided by g(x) which is a polynomial with integer coefficients, the
quotient and remainder are both h(x). Given that h is not a constant, find g and h.
11. The graph of the function f is shown below. How many solutions does the equation f(f(x)) = 6 have ?
y
(–2, 6) (1, 6)
6
5
4
3
2
1
x
–1
–7 –6 –5 –4 –3 –2–1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
–2
–3
–4
(–7, –4) –5
–6
(5, –6)
12. Suppose x – y = 1. Find the value of
x4 – xy3 – x3y – 3x2y + 3xy2 + y4.
13. If x2 + x – 1 = 0, find the value of x4 – 3x2 + 3.
14. If two positive integers m and n, both bigger than 1, satisfy the equation
20052 + m2 = 20042 + n2,
find the value of m + n – 200.

15. Find an integer x that satisfies the equation

x5 – 101x3 – 999x2 + 100900 = 0.
16. Let x and y be real numbers such that
 x2 + y2 = 2x – 2y + 2.
What is the largest possible value of x2 + y2 – 32 ?
1
17. It is given that x = . Find the value of
2 3
x6 – 2 3 x5 – x4 + x3 – 4x2 + 2x – 3.
18. Let f(x) = a0 +a1x + a2x2 + … + anxn, where a1 are nonnegative integers for I = 0, 1, 2, … , n. If f(1) = 21
f (10)  3
and f(25) = 78357, find the value of .
100
19. Let m  n be two real numbers such that m2 = n + 2 and n2 = m + 2. Find the value of 4mn – m3 – n3.
a 2 – 3a – 3
20. There are a few integer values of such that is an integer. Find the sum of all these integer
a–2
values of a .
21. Suppose that a, b, x and y are real numbers such that
ax + by = 3, ax2 + by2 = 7, ax3 + by3 = 16 and ax4 + by4 = 42.
Find the value of ax5 + by5.
22. Let a and b be positive real numbers such that
1 1 
– – = 0.
a b ab
2
b a
Find the value of    .
a b
S
23. Let the sum of the coefficients of the polynomial is S. Find .
16
(4x2 – 4x + 3)4 (4 + 3x – 3x2)2.
24. If
1
f (x) 
3
x  2x  1  x 2 – 1  3 x 2 – 2 x  1
2 3

for all positive integers x, find the value of

f(1) + f(3) + f(5) + … + f(997) + f(999).
25. Let a and b be two integers. Suppose x2 – x – 1 is a factor of the polynomial ax5 + bx4 + 1. Find the
value of a.
26. Suppose f is a function satisfying f(x + x–1) = x6 + x–6, for all x  0. Determine 400 – f(3).
27. Suppose x1, x2 and x3 are roots of (11 – x)3 + (13 – x)3 = (24 – 2x)3. What is the sum of x1 + x2 + x3 ?
28. Suppose that a + x2 = 2006, b + x2 = 2007 and c + x2 = 2008 and abc = 3. Find the value of
a b c 1 1 1
     .
bc ca ab a b c
29. Suppose that x – y = 1. Find the value of x4 – xy3 – x3y – 3x2y + 3xy2 + y4.
30. Find the value of
x 4  6x 3  2x 2  18x  23
when x = 19  8 3 .
x 2  8x  15
31. Let x, y, and z be three real numbers such that xy + yz + xz = 4. Find the least possible value of x2 + y2
+ z2.
32. Consider polynomials P(x) of degree at most 3, each of whose coefficients is an element of {0, 1, 2, 3,
4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9}. If total k polynomials satisfy P(–1) = – 9, then find k – 200 ?

2 2
33. For certain real numbers a, b, and c, the polynomial g(x) = x3 + ax2 + x + 10 has three distinct roots, and
–f (1)
each root of g(x) is also a root of the polynomial f(x) = x4 + x3 + bx2 + 100x + c. What is ?
91
34. There is a smallest positive real number a such that there exists a positive real number b such that all
the roots of the polynomial x3 – ax2 – bx – a are real. In fact, for this value of a the value of b is unique.
b3
What is this value of ?
27
35. Let P be a cubic polynomial with P(0) = k, P(1) = 2k, and P(–1) = 3k. If P(2) + P(–2) = JK. What is J ×
5?
36. Consider all polynomials of a complex variable, P(z) = 4z4 + az3 + bz2 + cz + d, where a, b, c and d are
integers, 0  d  c  b  a  4, and the polynomial has a zero z0 with |z0| = 1. What is the sum of all
values P(1) over all the polynomials with these properties ?
37. Let a > 0, and let P(x) be a polynomial with integer coefficients such that
P(1) = P(3) = P(5) = P(7) = a, and
P(2) = P(4) = P(6) = P(8) = –a.
The smallest possible value of a = 5 × Q. What is Q ?
38. Monic quadratic polynomials P(x) and Q(x) have the property that P(Q(x)) has zeroes at x = –23, –21, –
17 and –15 and Q(P(x)) has zeroes at x = –59, –57, –51, and –49. What is the last two digits of the sum
of the minimum values of P(x) and Q(x)?
39. Find the remainder when x2008 + 2008x + 2008 is divided by x2 – 3x + 2.
40. Given that x and y are positive real numbers such that (x + y)2 = 2500 and xy = 500, find the exact
x 3  y3
value of .
103
41. Find the remainder when (x – 1)100 + (x – 2)200 is divided by x2 – 3x + 2.
42. Let p(x) be a polynomial with real coefficients such that for all real x,
2(1 + p(x)) = p(x – 1) + p(x + 1)
and p(0) = 8, p(2) = 32. Determine the value of p(4).
43. Let a, b, c, d, e be five numbers satisfying the following conditions :
a + b + c + d + e = 0, and
abc + abd + abe + acd + ace + ade + bcd + bce + bde + cde = 33.
Find the value of a3 + b3 + c3 + d3 + e3.
10x
44. Given that x and y are both negative integers satisfying the equation y = , find the maximum
10  x
value of y + 20.
45. Given that x and y are real numbers satisfying the following equations :
x + xy + y = 2 + 3 2 and x2 + y2 = 6,
then the value of |x + y + 1| = a + b . Find the product of a and b.
46. Given that y = (x – 16) (x – 14) (x + 14) (x + 16), find the maximum value of (–0,1y).
1 1
47. Given that a + =b+ – 2 and a – b + 2  0, find the value of ab – a + b.
a 1 b 1
48. If | x | + x + 5y = 2 and | y | – y + x = 7, find the value of (x + y)3.
49. Let x1, x2, x3, x4 denote the four roots of the equation
x4 +kx2 + 90 x – 2009 = 0.
If x1x2 = 49, find the value of k.

3 3
 1
50. Let x be a real number such that x2 – 15x + 1 = 0. Find the last two digits of x4 +.
x4
51. If x, y and z are real numbers such that x + y + z = 9 and xy + yz + zx = 24, find the largest possible
value of z.
52. It is given that a  b = 20, where a and b are real numbers. Find the maximum possible value of
 a  5b 
 .
 10 
53. Given that 169(157 – 77x)2 + 100(201 – 100x)2 = 26(77x – 157) (1000x – 2010), find the value of x.
(20202  20100)(201002  1002 )(20002  20100)
54. Evaluate .
10(20106  106 )
55. If a, b, c and d are real numbers such that
bcd acd abd abc
    r,
a b c d
find the sum of all the possible values of r.
5 48/ x
56. Find the value of x that satisfies the equation 25–2 = .
526/ x.2517/ x
57. Let the value(s) of x is such that 8xy – 12y + 2x – 3 = 0 is true for all values of y. Then find (16x).
58. If p, q and r are distinct roots x3 – x2 + x – 2 = 0, then p3 + q3 + r3 equals.
59. Let g(x) = x5 + x4 + x3 + x2 + x + 1. What is the remainder when the polynomial g(x12) is divided by the
polynomial g(x) ?
60. Find the number of pairs (m, n) of integers which satisfy the equation m3 + 6m2 +5m = 27n3 + 9n2 + 9n
+ 1.
61. How many real numbers x satisfy the equation 32x + 2 – 3x + 3 – 3x + 3 = 0 ?
62. For certain real numbers a, b, and c, the polynomial
g(x) = x3 + ax2 + x + 10
has three distinct roots, and each root of g(x) is also a root of the polynomial
f(x) = x4 + x3 + bx2 + 100x + c.
Find the value of [F(1) + 7100].
63. If y + 4 = (x – 2)2, x + 4 = (y – 2)2, and x y, what is the value of x2 + y2 ?
64. For how many integers is the number x4 – 51x2 + 50 negative ?
65. What is the sum of all the roots of the equation
5 | x | 8 = x 2  16 .

ANSWER KEY
1  (–1)n 1, n  even 1
1. 2009 2. 3 3.  4. or –1 5. n = 10
2 0, n  odd 2
5 11
6. f(x) = – x3 + 3x2 + x–8 7. 2(x2 + y2 +xy)2 8. f(x) = x2 – 3x + 1
3 3
10. g(x) = x2 + x + 1, h(x) = x + 1 11. 06 12. 01 13. 02 14. 11
15. 10 16. 06 17. 02 18. 51 19. 00 20. 08
21. 20 22. 05 23. 81 24. 05 25. 03 26. 78
27. 36 28. 01 29. 01 30. 05 31. 04 32. 20
33. 77 34. 27 35. 70 36. 92 37. 63 38. 00
39. 01 40. 50 41. 01 42. 64 43. 99 44. 15
4

4 4
45. 06 46. 90 47. 02 48. 27 49. 07 50. 27
51. 05 52. 50 53. 31 54. 10 55. 02 56. 03
57. 24 58. 04 59. 06 60. 00 61. 02 62. 93
63. 15 64. 12 65. 00

5 5