2021 AMC 12B Problems/Problem 20

Problem

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

$\textbf{(A) }-z \qquad \textbf{(B) }-1 \qquad \textbf{(C) }2021\qquad \textbf{(D) }z+1 \qquad \textbf{(E) }2z+1$

Solution

Note that $z^3-1\equiv 0\pmod{z^2+z+1}$ so if $F(z)$ is the remainder when dividing by $z^3-1$ , $F(z)\equiv R(z)\pmod{z^2+z+1}.$ Now, $z^{2021}+1= (z^3-1)(z^{2018} + z^{2015} + \cdots + z^2) + z^2+1$ So $F(z) = z^2+1$ , and $R(z)\equiv F(z) \equiv -z\pmod{z^2+z+1}$ The answer is $\boxed{\textbf{(A) }-z}.$

2021 AMC 12B (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
Preceded by Problem 19	Followed by Problem 21
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All AMC 12 Problems and Solutions

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2021 AMC 12B Problems/Problem 20

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