CAIE FP1 2010 June — Question 6

Exam BoardCAIE
ModuleFP1 (Further Pure Mathematics 1)
Year2010
SessionJune
TopicRoots of polynomials

6 The equation $$x ^ { 3 } + x - 1 = 0$$ has roots \(\alpha , \beta , \gamma\). Use the relation \(x = \sqrt { } y\) to show that the equation $$y ^ { 3 } + 2 y ^ { 2 } + y - 1 = 0$$ has roots \(\alpha ^ { 2 } , \beta ^ { 2 } , \gamma ^ { 2 }\). Let \(S _ { n } = \alpha ^ { n } + \beta ^ { n } + \gamma ^ { n }\).
  1. Write down the value of \(S _ { 2 }\) and show that \(S _ { 4 } = 2\).
  2. Find the values of \(S _ { 6 }\) and \(S _ { 8 }\).