Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / /208 of 348

Algebra Difficulty 5.0 AIME Find the answer

Given an angle θ\theta, consider the polynomial P(x)=sin(θ)x2+cos(θ)x+tan(θ)x+1P(x)=\sin(\theta)x^{2}+\cos(\theta)x+\tan(\theta)x+1. Given that PP only has one real root, find all possible values of sin(θ)\sin(\theta).

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

Solution

Note that if sin(θ)=0\sin(\theta)=0, then the polynomial has 1 root. Now assume this is not the case then the polynomial is a quadratic in xx. Factor the polynomial as (tan(θ)x+1)(x+sec(θ))(\tan(\theta)x+1)(x+\sec(\theta)). Then the condition is equivalent to sec(θ)=1tan(θ)\sec(\theta)=\frac{1}{\tan(\theta)}, which is equivalent to sin(θ)=cos2(θ)=1sin2(θ)\sin(\theta)=\cos^{2}(\theta)=1-\sin^{2}(\theta). Solving now gives sin(θ)=512\sin(\theta)=\frac{\sqrt{5}-1}{2} as the only solution.

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