Maths Olympiad Prep

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Algebra Difficulty 4.9 AIME Prove it Philippines

Problem:
Solve the system of equations:
{x+y+xy=28x2+y2+xy=336 \left\{\begin{array}{l} x + y + \sqrt{x y} = 28 \\ x^{2} + y^{2} + x y = 336 \end{array}\right.

Solution

Solution:
(4,16)(4,16) and (16,4)(16,4)

After rewriting the first equation into x+y=28xyx + y = 28 - \sqrt{x y}, we square to get
x2+xy+y2=78456xy x^{2} + x y + y^{2} = 784 - 56 \sqrt{x y}
Using the second given equation, the last equation becomes
336=78456xyorxy=8 336 = 784 - 56 \sqrt{x y} \quad \text{or} \quad \sqrt{x y} = 8
Substituting this last equation to the first given equation, we get y=20xy = 20 - x, and the second given equation then becomes
x2+(20x)2+64=336 x^{2} + (20 - x)^{2} + 64 = 336
which yields x=4x = 4 and x=16x = 16. Knowing that xy=64x y = 64, the solutions are the ordered pairs (4,16)(4,16) and (16,4)(16,4).

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.