Maths Olympiad Prep

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Algebra Difficulty 5.6 AIME, harder Find the answer Italy

Problem:

The real numbers x1,x2,x3,,x30x_{1}, x_{2}, x_{3}, \ldots, x_{30} satisfy the following conditions:
{203x1+213x2+223x3++493x30=13213x1+223x2+233x3++503x30=1223x1+233x2+243x3++513x30=19 \left\{\begin{array}{l} 20^{3} x_{1}+21^{3} x_{2}+22^{3} x_{3}+\cdots+49^{3} x_{30}=13 \\ 21^{3} x_{1}+22^{3} x_{2}+23^{3} x_{3}+\cdots+50^{3} x_{30}=1 \\ 22^{3} x_{1}+23^{3} x_{2}+24^{3} x_{3}+\cdots+51^{3} x_{30}=19 \end{array}\right.
What is the value of 21x1+22x2+23x3++50x3021 x_{1}+22 x_{2}+23 x_{3}+\cdots+50 x_{30}?

Pick one

Solution

Solution:

The answer is (E). Adding the first equation to the third, we obtain an equation of the form a1x1+a2x2++a30x30=32a_{1} x_{1}+a_{2} x_{2}+\ldots+a_{30} x_{30}=32, where a1=(21+1)3(211)3=213+3212+321+1+2133212+3211=2213+621a_{1}=(21+1)^{3}-(21-1)^{3}=21^{3}+3 \cdot 21^{2}+3 \cdot 21+1+21^{3}-3 \cdot 21^{2}+3 \cdot 21-1=2 \cdot 21^{3}+6 \cdot 21, a2=(22+1)3(221)3=2223+622a_{2}=(22+1)^{3}-(22-1)^{3}=2 \cdot 22^{3}+6 \cdot 22, and in general ai=2(20+i)3+6(20+i)a_{i}=2 \cdot(20+i)^{3}+6 \cdot(20+i). Now, subtracting from this equation the second equation of the system multiplied by two, we obtain the equation 621x1+622x2++650x30=322=306 \cdot 21 x_{1}+6 \cdot 22 x_{2}+\ldots+6 \cdot 50 x_{30}=32-2=30. Consequently, if x1,,x30x_{1}, \ldots, x_{30} satisfy the three equations of the system, then 21x1+22x2++50x30=30/6=521 x_{1}+22 x_{2}+\ldots+50 x_{30}=30 / 6=5.

On the other hand, the system does indeed have a solution (in fact it has infinitely many possible ones!). For instance, by also setting x4=x5==x30=0x_{4}=x_{5}=\ldots=x_{30}=0, it is possible to compute values of x1,x2,x3x_{1}, x_{2}, x_{3} that satisfy the system through successive substitutions.

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement translated into English from it; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.