Problem:
Given the system
how many ordered triples of real numbers are solutions of it?
Problem:
Given the system
how many ordered triples of real numbers are solutions of it?
Pick one
Solution:
The answer is (B).
FIRST SOLUTION
Let , and . One can easily notice that , from which . Let us now consider the polynomial , which by construction has as its only solutions and . One checks that and that , so two of are and , and since the product is the third variable must be equal to . It follows that are in some order, and hence there are exactly three ordered triples of solutions: , and .
SECOND SOLUTION
As before we find ; substituting we thus find . Multiplying both sides by we get , so is a solution of this equation. One checks that the only solutions are and , from which the values of are immediately obtained: for example, if , then , , from which .