Problem:
The real numbers satisfy the following conditions:
What is the value of ?
Problem:
The real numbers satisfy the following conditions:
What is the value of ?
Pick one
Solution:
The answer is (E). Adding the first equation to the third, we obtain an equation of the form , where , , and in general . Now, subtracting from this equation the second equation of the system multiplied by two, we obtain the equation . Consequently, if satisfy the three equations of the system, then .
On the other hand, the system does indeed have a solution (in fact it has infinitely many possible ones!). For instance, by also setting , it is possible to compute values of that satisfy the system through successive substitutions.