Instructions. You may consult any source you wish
(books, friends, the Internet, ....)
You should work on these problems in advance at home and present your solutions
to one
of the docents during the math circle meeting. However, in your solutions, you
may only
rely on basic algebra (and facts like x 2 ≥ 0 for all x) or on problems that you
have already
solved. You may not, for example, rely on a theorem you found in a book (unless
you prove
it in the course of your solution).
Quadratic polynomials .
An expression of the form ax2 + bx + c with a ≠ 0 is called a quadratic
polynomial in x .
Problem 1. Show that the equation ax2 + bx + c = 0 has solutions if and only if
the
discriminant D = b2 − 4ac satisfies D ≥ 0. Show that in this case the solutions
are given by
the formula 
.
Problem 2. Show that if 
and
are the two solutions to ax2+bx+c
= 0, then 
and 
. Also show that the distance from
to is given by
.
Problem 3. Let a > 0, and let y = ax2 +bx+c. Show that there exists some R > 0
so that
y > 0 whenever |x| > R.
Problem 4. Solve the following equations: (a) t4 + t2 − 1 = 0; (b) t − 2/t = 0.
Problem 5. Let 
. Assume that
.
Show that
there exists some R so that 
whenever |x| > R.
Problem 6. A function f(x) is called (strictly) convex if
for any s, t and 0 < α< 1.
(a) Explain why the fol lowing is true for the graph of a convex function f:
if 
and 
belong to the graph, then the straight line segment
joining these
two points lies above the graph of f.
(b) Show that f(x) = ax2 + bx + c is convex if a > 0.
Problem 7. If f(x) is a function, we say that x is a minimum of f if
for any
(a) Give an example (a graph is sufficient) of a function having exactly two
minima.
(b) Show that if f is convex, it can have at most one minimum .
(c) Give examples of a convex function (a graph would suffice) having no minima
and of
a convex fuction (a graph would suffice) having exactly one minimum.
(d) Show that if f(x) = ax2 + bx + c and a > 0, then f(x) has a unique minimum,
at
−b/2a.
Problem 8. Assume that y = ax2 + bx + c, a > 0, and that for some x, the value
of y is
strictly less than zero . Show that then ax2 + bx + c has exactly two roots.
Problem 9. For which values of C does the system of equations
have a unique solution? Find this solution.
Problem 10. Let 
be three distinct points on the
plane. Can one always draw a
parabola that passes through these three points? If not, what is a reasonable
assumption on
that guarantees that you can do this?
Problem 11. Find all prime numbers p and q such that the equation
x2 − px − q = 0
has a solution which is a prime number.
Problem 12. Without solving the equation ax2 + bx + c = 0, where a ≠ 0 and D >
0, find
the sum of the squares of its roots.
Problem 13. (New problem. Please, note the change)
Consider the graph of the function y = ax2, where a > 0. Show that there is a
point
F = (0, f) (called focus of the parabola) and a line y = −l (called the
directrix of the
parabola) such that for any point (x, ax2) on the parabola the distances from
this point to
the focus and to the directrix are equal to each other.
Do you think such a special point and a special line would exist for any other
parabola?
Why?
Problem 14. Write down a quadratic equation with integer coefficients such that
its roots
are equal to 
and
.
Problem 15. Let
and be the roots of the quadratice equation
x2 − 13x − 17 = 0.
Write down a quadratic equation whose roots are 2−
and 2−. Please, solve
this problem
without finding and
explicitely.
Problem 16. Solve the following equation
Problem 17. (Please, note that the problem has been changed. The earlier problem
does
not have a solution as stated).
The product of the digits of a 2-digit number is equal to twice the sum of the
digits plus
6. When the number is divided by the sum of its digits, the quotient is equal to
4 and the
remainder is 3. Find the number.
Problem 18. Solve the equation
for all values of a.
