$x^{10}+x^{11}+\dots+x^{20}$ divided by $x^3+x$. Remainder?

Question

Question:

If $x^{10}+x^{11}+\dots+x^{20}$ is divided by $x^3+x$, then what is the remainder?
Options: (A) $x\qquad\quad$ (B)$-x\qquad\quad$ (C)$x^2\qquad\quad$ (D)$-x^2$

In these types of questions generally I follow the following approach:

Since divisor is cubic so the remainder must be a constant/linear/quadratic expression.
$\Rightarrow F(x)=(x^3+x)Q(x)+ax^2+bx+c$
For $x=0$, we get $c=0$

But since $x^3+x$ has no other roots so I can't find $a$ and $b$. Please help.

Answer:

Option (B)

Answer 1

Most useful for multiple choice is very quick elimination methods by considering special cases.

Put $x = 2$. The original expression is a geometric sum with number of terms, first term and common ratio being respectively $11,2^{20},2$ and it has the sum $2^{10}(2^{11} - 1) = (1024)(2047)$.

The divisor is $2^3 + 2 = 10$.

The original value modulo $10$ is $(4)(7) = 28 \equiv 8 \equiv -2 \pmod{10}$,so the only choice that fits is (B)$-x$.

By the way, using $x=1$ etc. doesn't help narrow down the possibilities sufficiently.

The above took me less than half a minute. It is a good technique for MCQ but (of course) not for open-ended questions.

Answer 2

You want to divide by $x^3+x = x(x^2+1)$, hence by the Chinese remainder theorem it is enough to check the remainders $\pmod{x}$ (which is obviously zero) and $\pmod{x^2+1}$. This remainder is simply given by setting $x^2\equiv -1$, such that $$ x^{10}+x^{11}+\ldots+x^{19}+x^{20} \equiv (-1-x+1+x)+(-1-x+1+x)+(-1-x+1+x)\color{red}{-x} $$ and option $(B)$ is apparent now.

Answer 3

What about this : We have for example $$x^{10}+x^{12}=x^{10}(x^2+1)\equiv 0\mod x(x^2+1)$$

This way we can also cancel $11-13,14-16,15-17,18-20$. It remains $x^{19}$ for which you can use $x^6\equiv x^2$ giving $x^{18}\equiv x^6$ hence $x^{18}\equiv x^2$ hence $x^{19}\equiv x^3\equiv -x$ $\mod (x^3+x)$

Answer 4

$\begin{align}p(x)&=x^{20}+x^{19}+\dots+x^{10}\\&=x^{17}(x^3+x)+x^{16}(x^3+x)+x^{13}(x^3+x)+x^{12}(x^3+x)+x^9(x^3+x)+\color{red}{x^{11}}\end{align}$

Again $x^{11}=x^8(x^3+x) -x^6(x^3+x) +x^4(x^3+x) -x^2(x^3+x) +(x^3+x) -x$

Hence remainder is $=-x$

Answer 5

The polynomial $x^{k+2}+x^k$ is divisible by $x^3+x$ for $k\ge 1.$ Hence $[x^{13}+x^{14}+\ldots +x^{20}]$ and $x^{10}+x^{12}$ are divisible by $x^3+x.$ We are down to $x^{11}$ (thanks @Cathedral ) and $$\displaylines{x^{11}=x^{11}+x^9-(x^9+x^7)+(x^7+x^5)\\ -(x^5+x^3)+(x^3+x)-x}$$ The remainder is equal $-x.$

Answer 6

$\overbrace{\!\!\bmod \color{c00}{x^2\!+\!1}}^{\color{#c00}{\large x^2\ \equiv\ -1}\!\!}\!:\ f\color{#0af}{\!+\!x^9} =\! (x^9\!+\!x^{13}\!+\!x^{17})\!\!\overbrace{(1\!+\!x\!+\!x^2\!+\!x^3)}^{\large ((\color{#c00}{x^2})^2-1)/(x-1)=\color{#0a0}0}\!\!\equiv\color{#0a0}0\,$ so $\,f \equiv \color{#0af}{-x^9} = -x(\color{#c00}{x^2})^4\! \equiv -x$

Answer 7

We want to find the remainder from the division:$$\frac{x^{20} + x^{19} + \ldots + x^{11} + x^{10}}{x^3 + x}$$

Now note that $$ (x^3 + x)(x^{n+1} + x^n ) = x^{n+4} + x^{n+3} + x^{n+2} + x^{n+1}, $$

so that

$$ \frac{x^{20} + x^{19} + \ldots + x^{11} + x^{10}}{x^3 + x} = x^{17} + x^{16} + x^{13} + x^{12} + \frac{x^{12} + x^{11} + x^{10}}{x^3 + x} $$

and using long division you can show that the remainder from the final term is $-x.$

Peter's method is more efficient though.

Answer 8

Here $x$ is common, hence we can "cancel" it to get $x^9+x^{10}+x^{11}+x^{12}+ \cdots +x^{19}$ & $x^2+1$

By your method, let this be $f(x) = (x^2+1)g(x)+ax+b$

At $x=i$, we get $x^9+x^{10}+x^{11}+x^{12}+ \cdots +x^{19} = 0 + ai+b$
At $x=-i$, we get $x^9+x^{10}+x^{11}+x^{12}+ \cdots +x^{19} = 0 - ai+b$

LHS in both can be calculated by Geometric Progression. We will end up with $2$ Simultaneous Equations having complex co-efficients.

Solving that will give the required reminder.

Alternately, we know that $x^4 = 1$ when $x=i$ or $x=-i$.

With that, we can reduce the given Equations:
$x^1+x^{2}+x^{3}+x^{0}+ \cdots +x^{3} = 0 + ai+b$
$x^1+x^{2}+x^{3}+x^{0}+ \cdots +x^{3} = 0 - ai+b$

$(+i)+(-1)+(-i)+(+1)+ \cdots +(-i) = 0 + ai+b$
$(-i)+(-1)+(+i)+(+1)+ \cdots +(+i) = 0 - ai+b$

$(0i)+(-1) = 0 + ai+b$
$(0i)+(-1) = 0 - ai+b$

Both give $(a,b)=(0,-1)$

Plugging into the original, before we did the "cancellation", we get $0x^2-x = -x$