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Algebra Difficulty 5.6 AIME, harder Find the answer

What is the value of the following expression:

(4x)xx132x126 (4-x) \sqrt{x} \cdot \sqrt[3]{x-1} \cdot \sqrt[6]{2 x-\frac{1}{2}}

when x1=2+3x_{1}=2+\sqrt{3}, and what is it when x2=23x_{2}=2-\sqrt{3}?

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

Solution

The function ff is defined for those xx for which the expressions under the even roots are non-negative, that is, x0x \geq 0, and 2x1/202x - 1/2 \geq 0, which together means: for x1/4x \geq 1/4. Noting that x1x2=1x_{1} x_{2} = 1, and 21/421/4, so ff is defined at both specified points.

f(x1)f(x_{1}) is positive because all four factors are positive, while in the case of f(x2)f(x_{2}), only the cube root is negative, the other three are positive, so f(x2)f(x_{2}) is negative. After this, it is sufficient to calculate the absolute values of the two numbers, for which it is practical to first calculate the f6f^6 power, as this does not require taking a root. The two calculations can be combined because x1x_{1} and x2x_{2} differ only in the sign of 3\sqrt{3}, and the same applies to (4x)(4-x), (x1)(x-1), and (2x1/2)(2x-1/2) (in other words, x1+x2x_{1} + x_{2} is rational, and therefore the sum of the values of the other three factors at x1x_{1} and x2x_{2} is also rational). Now,

[f(2±3)]6=(23)6(2±3)3(1±3)27±432 [f(2 \pm \sqrt{3})]^{6} = (2 \mp \sqrt{3})^{6} \cdot (2 \pm \sqrt{3})^{3} \cdot (1 \pm \sqrt{3})^{2} \cdot \frac{7 \pm 4 \sqrt{3}}{2}

and the right-hand side, by repeatedly applying the identity (a+b)(ab)=a2b2(a+b)(a-b)=a^{2}-b^{2}, squaring, and recognizing a perfect square in the last factor, transforms as follows:

(23)3[(23)(2±3)]32(2±3)(2±3)22=1=16 (2 \mp \sqrt{3})^{3} \cdot [(2 \mp \sqrt{3}) \cdot (2 \pm \sqrt{3})]^{3} \cdot 2(2 \pm \sqrt{3}) \cdot \frac{(2 \pm \sqrt{3})^{2}}{2} = 1 = 1^{6}

since 1 stands in the square brackets, and the product of the remaining binomials is also 1. Therefore, f(2+3)=+1f(2+\sqrt{3}) = +1 and f(23)=1f(2-\sqrt{3}) = -1.

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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.