Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2025/ii/paper-1/18j/a/solution

For a monic polynomial with roots , its discriminant is
Here . Both and the Vandermonde product in the are alternating homogeneous cubics. Evaluation at fixes the constant and gives
Using , , and , direct expansion gives
Consequently
and
Thus

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