Maths Olympiad Prep

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Algebra Difficulty 4.9 AIME Find the answer

3. For what range of values of aa does the equation x25x=\left|x^{2}-5 x\right|= aa have exactly two real roots?

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

Solution

(Tip: Let y1=x25x,y2=ay_{1}=\left|x^{2}-5 x\right|, y_{2}=a. Then, the equation x25x=a\left|x^{2}-5 x\right|=a having exactly two real roots is transformed into the graphs of the functions y1=x25xy_{1}=\left|x^{2}-5 x\right| and y2=ay_{2}=a having exactly two intersection points. It is easy to know that the range of values for aa is a>254a>\frac{25}{4} or a=0a=0.)

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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.