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Algebra Difficulty 5.0 AIME Prove it Croatia

Let aa and bb be real numbers. It is known that the parabola y=ax2+by = ax^2 + b intersects the curve y=x+1xy = x + \frac{1}{x} at exactly three points. Prove that 3ab<13ab < 1.

Solution

From the condition of the problem we conclude that the system of equations
y=ax2+b y = ax^2 + b
y=x+1x y = x + \frac{1}{x}
has three solutions, i.e. that the cubic equation
ax3x2+bx1=0 ax^3 - x^2 + bx - 1 = 0
has three real solutions. Let us denote these solutions by x1,x2,x3x_1, x_2, x_3. Viète's formulas give
x1+x2+x3=1a,x_1 + x_2 + x_3 = \frac{1}{a},
x1x2+x2x3+x3x1=ba,x_1x_2 + x_2x_3 + x_3x_1 = \frac{b}{a},
x1x2x3=1a.x_1x_2x_3 = \frac{1}{a}.
The inequality 3ab<13ab < 1 is equivalent to 1a2>3ba\frac{1}{a^2} > 3 \cdot \frac{b}{a}, which gives
(x1+x2+x3)2>3(x1x2+x2x3+x3x1). (x_1 + x_2 + x_3)^2 > 3 (x_1x_2 + x_2x_3 + x_3x_1).
It is not hard to see that this is equivalent to
(x1x2)2+(x2x3)2+(x3x1)2>0, (x_1 - x_2)^2 + (x_2 - x_3)^2 + (x_3 - x_1)^2 > 0,
and that inequality holds since the points (and consequently their abscissas) are mutually distinct.

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.