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Algebra Difficulty 5.5 AIME, harder Find the answer

5.48 Determine the real number aa such that the polynomials x2+ax+1x^{2}+a x+1 and x2+x+ax^{2}+x+a have at least one common root.

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

Solution

[Solution] Let xx be a common root, then we have
{x2+ax+1=0x2+x+a=0\left\{\begin{array}{l} x^{2} + a x + 1 = 0 \\ x^{2} + x + a = 0 \end{array}\right.
(1) - (2) gives \square
(a1)(x1)=0.(a-1)(x-1)=0 .

If a=1a=1, then equations (1) and (2) are the same, in which case the two polynomials have a common root.
If a1a \neq 1, then the common root x=1x=1, substituting into (1), (2) both yield a=2a=-2.
Therefore, when a=1a=1 or -2, x2+ax+1x^{2} + a x + 1 and x2+x+ax^{2} + x + a have at least one common root.

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