Maths Olympiad Prep

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Algebra Difficulty 5.4 AIME, harder Prove it Philippines

Problem:
Let aa, bb, cc be real numbers such that

3ab+2=6b,3bc+2=5c,3ca+2=4a 3 a b + 2 = 6 b, \quad 3 b c + 2 = 5 c, \quad 3 c a + 2 = 4 a

Suppose the only possible values for the product abca b c are r/sr / s and t/ut / u, where r/sr / s and t/ut / u are both fractions in lowest terms. Find r+s+t+ur+s+t+u.

Solution

Solution:
The three given equations can be written as

3a+2b=12,3b+2c=10,3c+2a=8 3 a + \frac{2}{b} = 12, \quad 3 b + \frac{2}{c} = 10, \quad 3 c + \frac{2}{a} = 8

The product of all the three equations gives us
27abc+6(3a+2b)+6(3b+2c)+6(3c+2a)+8abc=120 27 a b c + 6\left(3 a + \frac{2}{b}\right) + 6\left(3 b + \frac{2}{c}\right) + 6\left(3 c + \frac{2}{a}\right) + \frac{8}{a b c} = 120

Plugging in the values and simplifying the equation gives us
27(abc)230abc+8=0 27(a b c)^2 - 30 a b c + 8 = 0
This gives abca b c as either 4/94 / 9 or 2/32 / 3, so r+s+t+u=4+9+2+3=18r+s+t+u=4+9+2+3=18.

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