Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / /3 of 3

Algebra Difficulty 5.5 AIME, harder Prove it United States

Problem:
Let a,b,c,da, b, c, d be real numbers so that c,dc, d are not both 00. Define the function
m(x)=ax+bcx+d m(x) = \frac{a x + b}{c x + d}
on all real numbers xx except possibly d/c-d / c, in the event that c0c \neq 0. Suppose that the equation x=m(m(x))x = m(m(x)) has at least one solution that is not a solution of x=m(x)x = m(x). Find all possible values of a+da + d. Prove that your answer is correct.

Solution

Solution:
That 00 is a possible value of a+da + d can be seen by taking m(x)=xm(x) = -x, i.e., a=d=1a = -d = 1, b=c=0b = c = 0. We will now show that 00 is the only possible value of a+da + d.

The equation x=m(m(x))x = m(m(x)) implies
x=(a2+bc)x+(a+d)b(a+d)cx+(bc+d2) x = \frac{\left(a^{2} + b c\right) x + (a + d) b}{(a + d) c x + \left(b c + d^{2}\right)}
which in turn implies
(a+d)[cx2+(a+d)xb]=0 (a + d)\left[c x^{2} + (-a + d) x - b\right] = 0
Suppose for the sake of contradiction that a+d0a + d \neq 0. Then the above equation would further imply
cx2+(a+d)xb=0,x(cx+d)=ax+b, c x^{2} + (-a + d) x - b = 0, \quad x(c x + d) = a x + b,
which would imply x=m(x)x = m(x) for any xx except possibly d/c-d / c. But of course d/c-d / c is not a root of x=m(m(x))x = m(m(x)) anyway, so in this case, all solutions of x=m(m(x))x = m(m(x)) are also solutions of x=m(x)x = m(x), a contradiction. So our assumption was wrong, and in fact a+d=0a + d = 0, as claimed.

Want a route through all this instead of an archive? The track puts 2,000 problems in a working order, from AMC 10 level to the IMO shortlist.

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