Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / /40 of 520

Algebra Difficulty 5.3 AIME, harder Find the answer

Determine all real numbers x,y,zx, y, z satisfying the following system of equations: x=2y+3,y=2z+3,z=2x+3x=\sqrt{2 y+3}, y=\sqrt{2 z+3}, z=\sqrt{2 x+3}.

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

Solution

It is clear that the numbers x,y,zx, y, z must be strictly positive. The first two equations give x2=2y+3x^{2}=2 y+3 and y2=2z+3y^{2}=2 z+3. By subtracting them, we obtain x2y2=2(yz)x^{2}-y^{2}=2(y-z). From this, we deduce that if xyx \leqslant y then yzy \leqslant z, and similarly if yzy \leqslant z then zxz \leqslant x. Therefore, if xyx \leqslant y, we have xyzxx \leqslant y \leqslant z \leqslant x, which implies that x=y=zx=y=z.

We can similarly show that if xyx \geqslant y then x=y=zx=y=z. Therefore, in all cases, x,y,zx, y, z are equal, and their common value satisfies the equation x2=2x+3x^{2}=2 x+3, which can also be written as (x3)(x+1)=0(x-3)(x+1)=0. Since xx is strictly positive, it must be that x=y=z=3x=y=z=3. Conversely, it is immediately verified that x=y=z=3x=y=z=3 is indeed a solution to the system.

Want a route through all this instead of an archive? The track puts 2,000 problems in a working order, from AMC 10 level to the IMO shortlist.

Source: NuminaMath-1.5, licensed Apache-2.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic and difficulty added by this site.