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Algebra Difficulty 6.8 National olympiad Prove it

8. (NET 4) Determine whether there exist distinct real numbers a,b,c,ta, b, c, t for which: (i) the equation ax2+btx+c=0a x^{2} + b t x + c = 0 has two distinct real roots x1,x2x_{1}, x_{2}, (ii) the equation bx2+ctx+a=0b x^{2} + c t x + a = 0 has two distinct real roots x2,x3x_{2}, x_{3}, (iii) the equation cx2+atx+b=0c x^{2} + a t x + b = 0 has two distinct real roots x3,x1x_{3}, x_{1}.

Solution

8. Suppose that a,b,c,ta, b, c, t satisfy all the conditions. Then abc0a b c \neq 0 and
x1x2=ca,x2x3=ab,x3x1=bc. x_{1} x_{2}=\frac{c}{a}, \quad x_{2} x_{3}=\frac{a}{b}, \quad x_{3} x_{1}=\frac{b}{c} .
Multiplying these equations, we obtain x12x22x32=1x_{1}^{2} x_{2}^{2} x_{3}^{2}=1, and hence x1x2x3=ε=±1x_{1} x_{2} x_{3}=\varepsilon= \pm 1. From (1) we get x1=εb/a,x2=εc/b,x3=εa/cx_{1}=\varepsilon b / a, x_{2}=\varepsilon c / b, x_{3}=\varepsilon a / c. Substituting x1x_{1} in the first equation, we get ab2/a2+tεb2/a+c=0a b^{2} / a^{2}+t \varepsilon b^{2} / a+c=0, which gives us
b2(1+tε)=ac. b^{2}(1+t \varepsilon)=-a c .
Analogously, c2(1+tε)=abc^{2}(1+t \varepsilon)=-a b and a2(1+tε)=bca^{2}(1+t \varepsilon)=-b c, and therefore (1+tε)3=1(1+t \varepsilon)^{3}=-1; i.e., 1+tε=11+t \varepsilon=-1, since it is real. This also implies together with (1) that b2=ac,c2=abb^{2}=a c, c^{2}=a b, and a2=bca^{2}=b c, and consequently
a=b=c a=b=c \text {. }
Thus the three equations in the problem are equal, which is impossible. Hence, such a,b,c,ta, b, c, t do not exist.

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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.