Problem:
Let be real numbers so that are not both . Define the function
on all real numbers except possibly , in the event that . Suppose that the equation has at least one solution that is not a solution of . Find all possible values of . Prove that your answer is correct.
Solution
Solution:
That is a possible value of can be seen by taking , i.e., , . We will now show that is the only possible value of .
The equation implies
which in turn implies
Suppose for the sake of contradiction that . Then the above equation would further imply
which would imply for any except possibly . But of course is not a root of anyway, so in this case, all solutions of are also solutions of , a contradiction. So our assumption was wrong, and in fact , as claimed.
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