Maths Olympiad Prep

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, 2007

Algebra Difficulty 5.2 AIME, harder Prove it Vietnam

Solve the equation system
{112y+3x=2x1+12y+3x=6x \begin{cases} 1 - \frac{12}{y+3x} = \frac{2}{\sqrt{x}} \\ 1 + \frac{12}{y+3x} = \frac{6}{\sqrt{x}} \end{cases}

Solution

The necessary conditions for the given equation system are x,y>0;y+3x0x, y > 0; y+3x \neq 0. The given equation system is equivalent to the following equation systems
{112y+3x=2x1+12y+3x=6x{1x+1y=11x+3y=12y+3x(1)(2) \begin{cases} 1 - \frac{12}{y+3x} = \frac{2}{\sqrt{x}} \\ 1 + \frac{12}{y+3x} = \frac{6}{\sqrt{x}} \end{cases} \Rightarrow \begin{cases} \frac{1}{\sqrt{x}} + \frac{1}{\sqrt{y}} = 1 \\ -\frac{1}{\sqrt{x}} + \frac{3}{\sqrt{y}} = \frac{12}{y+3x} \end{cases} \quad (1) \quad (2)
Multiply (1) with (2), we get
9y1x=12y+3xy2+6xy27x2=0{y=3xy=9x \frac{9}{y} - \frac{1}{x} = \frac{12}{y+3x} \Leftrightarrow y^2 + 6xy - 27x^2 = 0 \Leftrightarrow \begin{cases} y = 3x \\ y = -9x \end{cases}
By the condition x,y>0x, y > 0, we have y=3xy = 3x. By setting y=3xy = 3x in (1), we obtain
1x+33x=1x=4+23,y=12+63 \frac{1}{\sqrt{x}} + \frac{3}{\sqrt{3x}} = 1 \Rightarrow x = 4 + 2\sqrt{3}, y = 12 + 6\sqrt{3}

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic and difficulty added by this site.