Maths Olympiad Prep

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Algebra Difficulty 4.8 AIME Prove it JBMO

Problem:
Find all pairs (x,y)(x, y) of real numbers such that x+y=1340|x| + |y| = 1340 and x3+y3+2010xy=6703x^{3} + y^{3} + 2010 x y = 670^{3}.

Solution

Solution:
Answer: (670,670)(-670, -670), (1005,335)(1005, -335), (335,1005)(-335, 1005).

To prove this, let z=670z = -670. We have
0=x3+y3+z33xyz=12(x+y+z)((xy)2+(yz)2+(zx)2) 0 = x^{3} + y^{3} + z^{3} - 3 x y z = \frac{1}{2}(x + y + z)\left((x - y)^{2} + (y - z)^{2} + (z - x)^{2}\right)
Thus either x+y+z=0x + y + z = 0, or x=y=zx = y = z. In the latter case we get x=y=670x = y = -670, which satisfies both the equations.

In the former case we get x+y=670x + y = 670. Then at least one of x,yx, y is positive, but not both, as from the second equation we would get x+y=1340x + y = 1340. If x>0yx > 0 \geq y, we get xy=1340x - y = 1340, which together with x+y=670x + y = 670 yields x=1005x = 1005, y=335y = -335. If y>0xy > 0 \geq x we get similarly x=335x = -335, y=1005y = 1005.

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