Distinct real numbers , , satisfy the condition . Find which values the product can attain.
Solution
From the first equality we can get that or that .
Analogously and . Thus we obtain: . Since , are distinct, , which means that . Let us show that there exist numbers , , for which both of the values can be achieved.
Take . Then we have two equations on , : and .
From the first one we get that or . This equation has two roots and . The second root coincides with , thus we take and . For these , , we have and it is easy to check that they satisfy the problem conditions.
Now take and and . So . The roots of this equation are and . Again we choose only one value and . A direct check shows that these , , fulfill the conditions.
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