Maths Olympiad Prep

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Algebra Difficulty 5.3 AIME, harder Prove it Soviet Union

Problem:
What is the smallest positive integer aa such that we can find integers bb and cc so that ax2+bx+ca x^2 + b x + c has two distinct positive roots less than 11?

Solution

Solution:
4x24x+1=(2x1)24x^2 - 4x + 1 = (2x - 1)^2, which has the double root 1/21/2. So it remains to consider a=1,2,3a = 1,2,3.

- b/ab/a is the sum of the roots, so bb is negative. c/ac/a is the product of the roots, so cc is positive. If a=1a = 1, then the product of the roots is cc, which is at least 11, so both roots cannot lie strictly between 00 and 11.

If a=2a = 2, then the sum of the roots is less than 22, so bb must be 1-1, 2-2, or 3-3. The roots are real so b2>4ac=8cb^2 > 4ac = 8c. Hence b=3b = -3 and c=1c = 1. But 2x23x+1=(2x1)(x1)2x^2 - 3x + 1 = (2x - 1)(x - 1) and one root is not less than 11.

If a=3a = 3, then bb must be 1-1, 2-2, ..., or 5-5. But b2>4ac=12cb^2 > 4ac = 12c, so (b,c)=(4,1),(5,1)(b,c) = (-4,1), (-5,1) or (5,2)(-5,2). In the first and last case, the equation has a root 11. In the middle case it has a root 5/6+13/6=1.434>15/6 + \sqrt{13/6} = 1.434 > 1. Thus there are no solutions for a=1,2,3a = 1,2,3 and so the smallest value of aa is 44.

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