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Algebra Difficulty 4.7 AIME Find the answer

15. (ISR 2) IMO5{ }^{\mathrm{IMO} 5} The nonnegative real numbers x1,x2,x3,x4,x5,ax_{1}, x_{2}, x_{3}, x_{4}, x_{5}, a satisfy the following relations:
i=15ixi=a,i=15i3xi=a2,i=15i5xi=a3 \sum_{i=1}^{5} i x_{i}=a, \quad \sum_{i=1}^{5} i^{3} x_{i}=a^{2}, \quad \sum_{i=1}^{5} i^{5} x_{i}=a^{3}
What are the possible values of aa?

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

Solution

15. We note that i=15i(ai2)2xi=a2i=15ixi2ai=15i3xi+i=15i5xi=a2a2aa2+a3=0\sum_{i=1}^{5} i\left(a-i^{2}\right)^{2} x_{i}=a^{2} \sum_{i=1}^{5} i x_{i}-2 a \sum_{i=1}^{5} i^{3} x_{i}+\sum_{i=1}^{5} i^{5} x_{i}=a^{2} \cdot a-2 a \cdot a^{2}+a^{3}=0. Since the terms in the sum on the left are all nonnegative, it follows that all the terms have to be 0. Thus, either xi=0x_{i}=0 for all ii, in which case a=0a=0, or a=j2a=j^{2} for some jj and xi=0x_{i}=0 for iji \neq j. In this case, xj=a/j=jx_{j}=a / j=j. Hence, the only possible values of aa are {0,1,4,9,16,25}\{0,1,4,9,16,25\}.

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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.