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Slovenia — National Math Olympiad

Algebra Difficulty 5.1 AIME, harder Prove it Slovenia

Find all real xx from the interval [0,2π)[0, 2\pi) such that
27⋅33sin⁡x=9cos⁡2x. 27 \cdot 3^3 \sin x = 9 \cos^2 x.

Solution

First, rewrite the equation as 33⋅33sin⁡x=(32)cos⁡2x3^3 \cdot 3^{3\sin x} = (3^2)^{\cos^2 x} and then
33+3sin⁡x=32cos⁡2x. 3^{3+3\sin x} = 3^{2\cos^2 x}.
This implies log⁡3(33+3sin⁡x)=log⁡3(32cos⁡2x)\log_3(3^{3+3\sin x}) = \log_3(3^{2\cos^2 x}) or 3+3sin⁡x=2cos⁡2x3 + 3\sin x = 2\cos^2 x. Since cos⁡2x=1−sin⁡2x\cos^2 x = 1 - \sin^2 x we have
1+3sin⁡x+2sin⁡2x=0 1 + 3\sin x + 2\sin^2 x = 0
and
(1+sin⁡x)(1+2sin⁡x)=0. (1 + \sin x)(1 + 2\sin x) = 0.
This implies that sin⁡x=−1\sin x = -1 or sin⁡x=−1/2\sin x = -1/2. The only real number xx from the interval [0,2π)[0, 2\pi) satisfying the first condition is x=3π2x = \frac{3\pi}{2}. There are two real numbers x∈[0,2π)x \in [0, 2\pi), such that sin⁡x=−1/2\sin x = -1/2, namely x=7π6x = \frac{7\pi}{6} and x=11π6x = \frac{11\pi}{6}.

The solutions are x=3π2x = \frac{3\pi}{2}, x=7π6x = \frac{7\pi}{6} and x=11π6x = \frac{11\pi}{6}.

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