Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / /24 of 100

Geometry Difficulty 4.4 AIME Prove it China

Suppose real numbers xx, yy satisfy x4y=2xyx - 4\sqrt{y} = 2\sqrt{x-y}.
Then the range of xx is ______.

Solution

Let y=a\sqrt{y} = a, xy=b\sqrt{x-y} = b (a,b0a, b \ge 0). Then x=y+(xy)=a2+b2x = y + (x-y) = a^2 + b^2. The equation in the question becomes a2+b24a=2ba^2 + b^2 - 4a = 2b, which is equivalent to
(a2)2+(b1)2=5(a,b0). (a - 2)^2 + (b - 1)^2 = 5 \quad (a, b \ge 0).
As seen in Fig. 7.1, the trace of point (a,b)(a, b) in plane aObaOb is the part of the circle with center (2,1)(2, 1) and radius 5\sqrt{5} satisfying a,b0a, b \ge 0, i.e., the union of point OO and arc ACB^\widehat{ACB}. Then
Figure 1
Fig. 7.1
a2+b2{0}[2,25]. \sqrt{a^2 + b^2} \in \{0\} \cup [2, 2\sqrt{5}].
Therefore, x=a2+b2{0}[4,20]x = a^2 + b^2 \in \{0\} \cup [4, 20].
The answer is {0}[4,20]\{0\} \cup [4, 20].

Want a route through all this instead of an archive? The track puts 2,000 problems in a working order, from AMC 10 level to the IMO shortlist.

Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic and difficulty added by this site.