2021 AMC 12A Problem 22
Problem 22 of 25HarderAlgebra
Suppose that the roots of the polynomial are and where angles are in radians. What is
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Solution
Let the three roots be The seventh roots of unity give Doubling the three angles merely permutes their cosines, so Hence equals
The product-to-sum identity gives so Therefore their monic polynomial is
Matching coefficients, Therefore
Thus, the correct answer is D.
Tagged: roots of unity · polynomial · Vieta’s Formulas