2013 AIME II Problem 12

Below is the professionally curated solution for Problem 12 of the 2013 AIME II, from LIVE by Po-Shen Loh. You can also try the full timed exam, view all 2013 AIME II solutions, or check the answer key.

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Concepts:polynomialcomplex numbercasework

Difficulty rating: 3060

12.

Let SS be the set of all polynomials of the form z3+az2+bz+c,z^3 + az^2 + bz + c, where a,a, b,b, and cc are integers. Find the number of polynomials in SS such that each of its roots zz satisfies either z=20|z| = 20 or z=13.|z| = 13.

Solution:

A cubic with real coefficients has either three real roots or one real root and a conjugate pair. The only real numbers with modulus 2020 or 1313 are ±20\pm 20 and ±13,\pm 13, so in the all-real case the roots form a multiset of size 33 from those 44 values: (63)=20\binom{6}{3} = 20 polynomials.

Otherwise the roots are k{±20,±13}k \in \{\pm 20, \pm 13\} and a conjugate pair r±sir \pm si with s0s \ne 0 and r2+s2=400r^2 + s^2 = 400 or 169.169. Expanding (zk)(z22rz+(r2+s2))(z - k)\bigl(z^2 - 2rz + (r^2 + s^2)\bigr) shows the coefficients are (2r+k),-(2r + k), r2+s2+2rk,r^2 + s^2 + 2rk, and (r2+s2)k,-(r^2 + s^2)k, which are all integers exactly when 2r2r is an integer. On the circle of radius 2020 we need r<20,|r| \lt 20, allowing 2r{39,,39}:2r \in \{-39, \ldots, 39\}: 7979 choices; on the circle of radius 13,13, 2r{25,,25}:2r \in \{-25, \ldots, 25\}: 5151 choices. With 44 choices of k,k, that gives 4(79+51)=5204(79 + 51) = 520 polynomials, each distinct since the roots determine the polynomial.

In total there are 20+520=54020 + 520 = 540 such polynomials.

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