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Integer Roots (Posted on 2006-10-14) Difficulty: 2 of 5
Find all integers n for which the equation x3 - 13x + n = 0 has three integer roots.

  Submitted by Bractals    
Rating: 2.5000 (2 votes)
Solution: (Hide)
Let a, b, and c be the roots of the equation. Then
   x3 - 13x + n = (x - a)(x - b)(x - c)

                = x3 - (a + b + c)x2 + (ab + bc + ca)x - abc
Thus,
      a + b + c = 0

   ab + bc + ca = -13

           -abc = n
Now
    a2 + b2 + c2 = (a + b + c)2 - 2(ab + bc + ca) = 02 -2(-13) = 26
Since a, b, and c are integers, their squares are integers.
Therefore, we need three squares of integers that sum to 26.
The only possibilities are {0, 1, 25} and {1, 9, 16}.
If {a2, b2, c2} = {0, 1, 25}, then {a, b, c} = {0, ±1, ±5},
which is impossible since a + b + c = 0.
Therefore, {a2, b2, c2} = {1, 9, 16}.
Hence, {a, b, c} = {1, 3, -4} or {-1, -3, 4}.
Finally, there are two possible values for n = -abc, namely 12 and -12.

Comments: ( You must be logged in to post comments.)
  Subject Author Date
Some Thoughtsre(2): Some thoughtsFederico Kereki2006-10-15 12:42:03
SolutionPuzzle ResolutionK Sengupta2006-10-14 22:39:25
re: Some thoughtsRichard2006-10-14 22:04:37
Answer mostly by brute forceRichard2006-10-14 20:33:28
Some ThoughtsSome thoughtsFederico Kereki2006-10-14 16:52:52
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