2020 AMC 12B Problem 17
Below is the professionally curated solution for Problem 17 of the 2020 AMC 12B, from LIVE by Po-Shen Loh. You can also try the full timed exam, view all 2020 AMC 12B solutions, or check the answer key.
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Difficulty rating: 1960
17.
How many polynomials of the form where and are real numbers, have the property that whenever is a root, so is (Note that )
Solution:
Here is a primitive cube root of unity. Since is not a root, the set of distinct roots is closed under multiplication by so it consists of triples equally spaced in argument. Five roots cannot fill two such triples, so there is exactly one triple, with multiplicities summing to
Real coefficients require the root multiset to be closed under conjugation. This is possible only when the triple's arguments are symmetric about the real axis, which happens for the two configurations and
The product of the roots must equal In the first configuration the real root is positive, forcing a positive product, which is impossible. In the second, the real root is negative and the product is setting works, and the two conjugate-symmetric multiplicity patterns and each give a valid polynomial. Hence there are
Thus, the correct answer is C.
Problem 17 in Other Years
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