Three different nonzero real numbers , , satisfy the equations
where is a real number. Prove that .
, 2014
Solutions — 2
Solution 1
We eliminate variables to get an equation in and . First,
Finally,
Rearranging we obtain that is
If , must be a root of the quadratic function and by symmetry so must and . But this is a contradiction since , and are different numbers. It follows that we must have and so must either be equal to or to .
It is easy to check that both possibilities for lead to the solution set
where , . This solution must satisfy .
Solution 2
The equation implies which can be rewritten as
Because the given equations are cyclically symmetric, we also obtain
Multiplying these three equations and using that , we obtain
From we obtain and . Subtracting these gives . By cyclic symmetry we also get
Multiplying these three equations and using that , we obtain
This implies , thus , and finally .