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Algebra Difficulty 4.5 AIME Find the answer

Solve in real numbers the system of equations

x1(x11)=x21x2(x21)=x31x2016(x20161)=x20171x2017(x20171)=x11. \begin{gathered} x_{1}\left(x_{1}-1\right)=x_{2}-1 \\ x_{2}\left(x_{2}-1\right)=x_{3}-1 \\ \cdots \\ x_{2016}\left(x_{2016}-1\right)=x_{2017}-1 \\ x_{2017}\left(x_{2017}-1\right)=x_{1}-1 . \end{gathered}

A number or a short expression. Fractions can be typed as 3/2, and spacing doesn't matter.

Solution

Let us conventionally set x2018=x1x_{2018}=x_{1}. For all i=1,,2017i=1, \ldots, 2017, we have xi+1x_{i+1}- xi=xi(xi1)+1xi=(xi1)20x_{i}=x_{i}\left(x_{i}-1\right)+1-x_{i}=\left(x_{i}-1\right)^{2} \geqslant 0, so x1=x2018x2017x1x_{1}=x_{2018} \geqslant x_{2017} \geqslant \cdots \geqslant x_{1}. We deduce that the xix_{i} are all equal, hence 0=xi+1xi=(xi1)2=00=x_{i+1}-x_{i}=\left(x_{i}-1\right)^{2}=0. Therefore, xi=1x_{i}=1 for all ii. Conversely, it is clear that xi=1x_{i}=1 is a solution.

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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.