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Algebra Difficulty 5.6 AIME, harder Prove it Estonia

Find all triples (x,y,z)(x, y, z) of real numbers that satisfy the system of equations
{xy+x+y=z,yz+y+z=x,zx+z+x=y. \begin{cases} xy + x + y = z, \\ yz + y + z = x, \\ zx + z + x = y. \end{cases}

Solutions — 2

Solution 1

Denote x+1=ax+1 = a, y+1=by+1 = b and z+1=cz+1 = c. Adding 1 to the sides of all equations and factorizing in the left gives
{ab=c,bc=a,ca=b.(2) \begin{cases} ab = c, \\ bc = a, \\ ca = b. \end{cases} \qquad (2)
If a=0a=0 then the first and the third equation of (2) imply b=0b=0 and c=0c=0. Analogously, if b=0b=0 or c=0c=0 then a,b,ca, b, c are all equal to zero. This case leads to the solution (1,1,1)(-1,-1,-1) to the initial system. If none of a,b,ca, b, c is zero then pairwise multiplication of the equations of (2) and each time reducing similar factors from both sides gives a2=b2=c2=1a^2 = b^2 = c^2 = 1. Thus each of the numbers a,b,ca, b, c is either 1 or -1. The case a=b=c=1a=b=c=1 satisfies (2) and leads to the solution (0,0,0)(0,0,0) of the initial system. The cases with exactly two of numbers a,b,ca, b, c being equal to -1 also satisfy (2) and lead to the solutions (2,2,0)(-2,-2,0), (2,0,2)(-2,0,-2) and (0,2,2)(0,-2,-2) of the initial system. Multiplying the corresponding sides of all equations of (2) and reducing by factor abcabc gives abc=1abc = 1, whence there are no more solutions (the value -1 cannot occur an odd number of times).

Solution 2

Substituting zz from the first equation into the second one gives the equation y(xy+x+y)+y+(xy+x+y)=xy(xy + x + y) + y + (xy + x + y) = x which is equivalent to (x+1)y(y+2)=0(x+1)y(y+2) = 0. Thus we have x=1x = -1 or y=0y = 0 or y=2y = -2.
* If x=1x = -1 then the first equation implies z=1z = -1. Substituting into the third equation gives y=1y = -1. Hence the solution (1,1,1)(-1,-1,-1).

* If y=0y = 0 then the first equation implies z=xz = x. Substituting into the third equation gives x2+2x=0x^2 + 2x = 0. Thus x=z=0x = z = 0 or x=z=2x = z = -2, leading to the solutions (0,0,0)(0, 0, 0) and (2,0,2)(-2, 0, -2).
* If y=2y = -2 then the first equation implies z=x2z = -x - 2. Substituting it into the third equation gives x2+2x=0x^2 + 2x = 0. Thus either x=0x = 0 and z=2z = -2 or x=2x = -2 and z=0z = 0 which lead to the solutions (0,2,2)(0, -2, -2) and (2,2,0)(-2, -2, 0).

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