Purely imaginary equation $p(x)=0$ with real coefficient

quadratics

The quadratic equation $p(x)=0$ with real coefficient has purely imaginary roots. Then the equation $p(p(x))=0$ has

(A) only purely imaginary roots

(B) all real roots

(C) two real and two purely imaginary roots

(D) neither real nor purely imaginary roots

The official answer is (D)

My approach us as follow

Though the question has been solved in this website but dont consider it as a duplicate as I would like to put forward my method for perusal

$p\left( {p\left( x \right)} \right) = 0$

$p\left( x \right) = a{x^2} + bx + c = 0$

${b^2} – 4ac < 0$

$T = p\left( x \right)\& T > 0$

$a{x^2} + bx + c > 0$

$p\left( T \right) = 0 = a{T^2} + bT + c$

${b^2} – 4ac < 0$ but $T > 0$ contradiction so the equation is neither real nor imaginary

Is my approach of solving matches with the standard procedure

Best Answer

If it has purely imaginary roots, that basically means that $$p(x)=ax^2+b\,,$$ where $a,b$ are nonzero real numbers of the same sign. It follows that $$p(p(x))=a(ax^2+b)^2+b\,.$$ The solution to this is $$ax^2+b=\pm\sqrt{\frac{b}{a}}i\,,$$ which clearly shows that $x$ can neither be real nor purely imaginary because in that case the left-hand side would be a real number whereas the right-hand side is purely imaginary.

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