Maths Olympiad Prep

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Algebra Difficulty 5.0 AIME, harder Prove it Romania

Solve in complex numbers the equation
zz+1=z+z1. |z - |z + 1|| = |z + |z - 1||.

Solution

Writing the equation as zz+12=z+z12|z - |z + 1||^2 = |z + |z - 1||^2, and using w2=wwˉ|w|^2 = w \cdot \bar{w}, for any complex number ww, yields the equivalent form
(z+zˉ)(z1+z+12)=0. (z + \bar{z}) (|z - 1| + |z + 1| - 2) = 0.
We deduce that either z+zˉ=2Rez=0z + \bar{z} = 2 \operatorname{Re} z = 0, hence z=iaz = ia, for some real aa, or z1+z+1=2|z - 1| + |z + 1| = 2. In this second case, we deduce that, in the complex plane, the sum of distances from the point zz to the points 1-1 and 11 equals 22, which is possible if and only if zz is a real number, lying on the line segment [1,1][-1, 1].

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