Maths Olympiad Prep

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Algebra Difficulty 5.3 AIME, harder Prove it Bulgaria

Problem:
Find all values of the real parameter aa such that the equation
logax(3x+4x)=log(ax)2(72(4x3x))+log(ax)38x1 \log_{a x}\left(3^{x}+4^{x}\right)=\log_{(a x)^{2}}\left(7^{2}\left(4^{x}-3^{x}\right)\right)+\log_{(a x)^{3}} 8^{x-1}
has a solution.

Solution

Solution:
Since ax>0a x>0 and 4x3x>04^{x}-3^{x}>0 it follows that a>0a>0 and x>0x>0.

For a>0a>0, x>0x>0 and ax1a x \neq 1 the equation is equivalent to
3x+4x=72x14x3x45(43)2x57(43)x4=0 3^{x}+4^{x}=7 \cdot 2^{x-1} \sqrt{4^{x}-3^{x}} \Longleftrightarrow 45\left(\frac{4}{3}\right)^{2x}-57\left(\frac{4}{3}\right)^{x}-4=0
Setting y=(43)x>0y=\left(\frac{4}{3}\right)^{x}>0 we obtain the equation 45y257y4=045 y^{2}-57 y-4=0 with solutions y1=43y_{1}=\frac{4}{3} and y2=115y_{2}=-\frac{1}{15}. Hence x=1x=1. The condition ax1a x \neq 1 now implies that a1a \neq 1.

The required values of aa are a(0,+){1}a \in (0,+\infty) \setminus \{1\}.

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