Maths Olympiad Prep

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Algebra Difficulty 5.4 AIME, harder Prove it Romania

Find the real numbers xx such that 3x+3[x]+3{x}=43^x + 3^{[x]} + 3^{\{x\}} = 4.

Solution

There are no numbers x[1,)x \in [1, \infty) with the property in the statement: if x1x \ge 1, then [x]1[x] \ge 1 and, since {x}[0,1)\{x\} \in [0, 1), we obtain
4=3x+3[x]+3{x}3+3+1=7, 4 = 3^x + 3^{[x]} + 3^{\{x\}} \ge 3 + 3 + 1 = 7,
contradiction.

There are no numbers x(,1)x \in (-\infty, -1) with the property in the statement: x<1x < -1, then [x]2[x] \le -2 and, since {x}[0,1)\{x\} \in [0, 1), we obtain
4=3x+3[x]+3{x}<31+32+31=349, 4 = 3^x + 3^{[x]} + 3^{\{x\}} < 3^{-1} + 3^{-2} + 3^1 = 3\frac{4}{9},
contradiction.

If x[0,1)x \in [0, 1), then [x]=0[x] = 0, {x}=x\{x\} = x, so the given equality becomes
3x+1+3x=423x=3. 3^x + 1 + 3^x = 4 \Leftrightarrow 2 \cdot 3^x = 3.
We obtain the solution x1=1log32[0,1)x_1 = 1 - \log_3 2 \in [0, 1).

If x[1,0)x \in [-1, 0), then [x]=1[x] = -1, {x}=x+1\{x\} = x + 1, so the given equality becomes
3x+13+3x+1=443x=113. 3^x + \frac{1}{3} + 3^{x+1} = 4 \Leftrightarrow 4 \cdot 3^x = \frac{11}{3}.
We obtain the solution x2=log31112[1,0)x_2 = \log_3 \frac{11}{12} \in [-1, 0).

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic and difficulty added by this site.