Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / /330 of 520

Algebra Difficulty 7.0 National olympiad Find the answer

4・141 Solve the system of equations
{x5+x2=yx1,x1+x3=yx2,x2+x4=yx3,x3+x5=yx4,x4+x1=yx5.\left\{\begin{array}{l} x_{5} + x_{2} = y x_{1}, \\ x_{1} + x_{3} = y x_{2}, \\ x_{2} + x_{4} = y x_{3}, \\ x_{3} + x_{5} = y x_{4}, \\ x_{4} + x_{1} = y x_{5}. \end{array}\right.

where yy is a parameter.

A number or a short expression. Spacing and $ signs are ignored.

Solution

[Solution]
{x5+x2=yx1x1+x3=yx2x2+x4=yx3x3+x5=yx4x4+x1=yx5\left\{\begin{array}{l} x_{5}+x_{2}=y x_{1} \\ x_{1}+x_{3}=y x_{2} \\ x_{2}+x_{4}=y x_{3} \\ x_{3}+x_{5}=y x_{4} \\ x_{4}+x_{1}=y x_{5} \end{array}\right.

Obviously, for any value of yy,
x1=x2=x3=x4=x5=0x_{1}=x_{2}=x_{3}=x_{4}=x_{5}=0

is a solution to the system of equations.
Next, we seek the "non-trivial solutions" (i.e., at least one xi0,i=1,2,3,4,5x_{i} \neq 0, i=1,2,3,4,5).

From (1) and (5), we get
x2=yx1x5x4=yx5x1\begin{array}{l} x_{2}=y x_{1}-x_{5} \\ x_{4}=y x_{5}-x_{1} \end{array}

From (2) and (4), we get
x3=yx2x1x3=yx4x5\begin{array}{l} x_{3}=y x_{2}-x_{1} \\ x_{3}=y x_{4}-x_{5} \end{array}

Substituting (6) and (7) into (8) and (9) respectively, we get
x3=(y21)x1yx5x3=(y21)x5yx1\begin{array}{l} x_{3}=\left(y^{2}-1\right) x_{1}-y x_{5} \\ x_{3}=\left(y^{2}-1\right) x_{5}-y x_{1} \end{array}

From (10) and (11), we get
(y21)x1yx5=(y21)x5yx1\left(y^{2}-1\right) x_{1}-y x_{5}=\left(y^{2}-1\right) x_{5}-y x_{1}

which simplifies to (y2+y1)(x1x5)=0\left(y^{2}+y-1\right)\left(x_{1}-x_{5}\right)=0.
When y2+y10y^{2}+y-1 \neq 0, it must be that x1=x5x_{1}=x_{5}.
Similarly, we can get x1=x2,x2=x3,x3=x4x_{1}=x_{2}, x_{2}=x_{3}, x_{3}=x_{4}, and so on. Thus, when y2+y10y^{2}+y-1 \neq 0, we have x1=x2=x3=x4=x5x_{1}=x_{2}=x_{3}=x_{4}=x_{5}.

Substituting this result into any of equations (1) or (5), we get y=2y=2. Clearly, y2+y10y^{2}+y-1 \neq 0 in this case.

Thus, when y=2y=2, x1=x2=x3=x4=x5x_{1}=x_{2}=x_{3}=x_{4}=x_{5} is a non-trivial solution to the system of equations. When y2+y10y^{2}+y-1 \neq 0 and y2y \neq 2, the system has only the trivial solution.
When y2+y1=0y^{2}+y-1=0, from y21=yy^{2}-1=-y, equation (10) gives
x3=y(x1+x5)x_{3}=-y\left(x_{1}+x_{5}\right)

Also, from equations (6) and (7), we get x2=yx1x5,x4=yx5x1x_{2}=y x_{1}-x_{5}, x_{4}=y x_{5}-x_{1}. Combining these, the solutions to the original system of equations are:
(i) When y2+y10y^{2}+y-1 \neq 0 and y2y \neq 2, the system has only the trivial solution
x1=x2=x3=x4=x5=0x_{1}=x_{2}=x_{3}=x_{4}=x_{5}=0
(ii) When y=2y=2, the system has the solution x1=x2=x3=x4=x5=tx_{1}=x_{2}=x_{3}=x_{4}=x_{5}=t, where tt is any real number.
(iii) When y2+y1=0y^{2}+y-1=0, the solutions to the system are
{x1=ux5=vx2=yuvx3=y(u+v)x4=yvu\left\{\begin{array}{l} x_{1}=u \\ x_{5}=v \\ x_{2}=y u-v \\ x_{3}=-y(u+v) \\ x_{4}=y v-u \end{array}\right.

where u,vu, v are any numbers, and y=1±52y=\frac{-1 \pm \sqrt{5}}{2}.

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: NuminaMath-1.5, licensed Apache-2.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic and difficulty added by this site.