2021 AMC 12B Spring Problem 20

Below is the professionally curated solution for Problem 20 of the 2021 AMC 12B Spring, from LIVE by Po-Shen Loh. You can also try the full timed exam, view all 2021 AMC 12B Spring solutions, or check the answer key.

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Concepts:polynomialroots of unitymodular arithmetic

Difficulty rating: 1990

20.

Let Q(z)Q(z) and R(z)R(z) be the unique polynomials such that z2021+1=(z2+z+1)Q(z)+R(z)z^{2021}+1=(z^2+z+1)Q(z)+R(z) and the degree of RR is less than 2.2. What is R(z)?R(z)?

z-z

1-1

20212021

z+1z+1

2z+12z+1

Solution:

Since z31(modz2+z+1)z^3\equiv 1\pmod{z^2+z+1} and 2021=3673+2,2021=3\cdot 673+2, we have z2021z2.z^{2021}\equiv z^2.

So z2021+1z2+1.z^{2021}+1\equiv z^2+1. Reducing further with z2z1,z^2\equiv -z-1, this is z1+1=z.-z-1+1=-z.

Therefore R(z)=z.R(z)=-z.

Thus, the correct answer is A.

Problem 20 in Other Years