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Algebra Difficulty 7.0 National olympiad, round 2 Prove it

Let k3=2\mathrm{k}^{3}=2 and let x,y,z\mathrm{x}, \mathrm{y}, \mathrm{z} be any rational numbers such that x+yk+zk2\mathrm{x}+\mathrm{y} \mathrm{k}+\mathrm{z} \mathrm{k}^{2} is non-zero. Show that there are rational numbers u,v,w\mathrm{u}, \mathrm{v}, \mathrm{w} such that (x+yk+zk2)(u+vk+wk2)=1\left(\mathrm{x}+\mathrm{yk}+\mathrm{z} \mathrm{k}^{2}\right)\left(\mathrm{u}+\mathrm{v} \mathrm{k}+\mathrm{w} \mathrm{k}^{2}\right)=1.

Solution

We need xu+2zv+2yw=1x u+2 z v+2 y w=1, yu+xv+2zw=0,zu+yv+xw=0y u+x v+2 z w=0, z u+y v+x w=0. This is just a straightforward set of linear equations. Solving, we get: u=(x22yz)/d,v=(2z2xy)/d,w=u=\left(x^{2}-2 y z\right) / d, v=\left(2 z^{2}-x y\right) / d, w= (y2xz)/d\left(y^{2}-x z\right) / d, where d=x3+2y3+4z36xyzd=x^{3}+2 y^{3}+4 z^{3}-6 x y z.

This would fail if d=0d=0. But if d=0d=0, then multiplying through by a suitable integer we have 6mnr=m3+2n3+4r36 mnr=m^{3}+2 n^{3}+4 r^{3} for some integers m,n,rm, n, r. But we can divide by any common factor of m,n,rm, n, r to get them without any common factor. But 6mnr,2n3,4r36 mnr, 2 n^{3}, 4 r^{3} are all even, so mm must be even. Put m=2Mm=2 M. Then 12Mnr=8M3+2n3+4r312 M n r=8 M^{3}+2 n^{3}+4 r^{3}, so 6Mnr=4M3+n3+2r36 M n r=4 M^{3}+n^{3}+2 r^{3}. But 6Mnr,4M36 M n r, 4 M^{3} and 2r32 r^{3} are all even, so nn must be even. Put n=2Nn=2 N. Then 12MNr=4M3+8N3+2r312 M N r=4 M^{3}+8 N^{3}+2 r^{3}, so 6MNr6 M N r =2M3+4N3+r3=2 M^{3}+4 N^{3}+r^{3}, so rr must be even. So m,n,rm, n, r had a common factor 2. Contradiction. So dd cannot be zero.

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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.