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Algebra Difficulty 4.9 AIME Find the answer

There is a unique quadruple of positive integers (a,b,c,k)(a, b, c, k) such that cc is not a perfect square and a+b+ca+\sqrt{b+\sqrt{c}} is a root of the polynomial x420x3+108x2kx+9x^{4}-20 x^{3}+108 x^{2}-k x+9. Compute cc.

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

Solution

The four roots are a±b±ca \pm \sqrt{b \pm \sqrt{c}}, so the sum of roots is 20 , so a=5a=5. Next, we compute the sum of squares of roots: (a+b±c)2+(ab±c)2=2a2+2b±2c(a+\sqrt{b \pm \sqrt{c}})^{2}+(a-\sqrt{b \pm \sqrt{c}})^{2}=2 a^{2}+2 b \pm 2 \sqrt{c} so the sum of squares of roots is 4a2+4b4 a^{2}+4 b. However, from Vieta, it is 2022108=18420^{2}-2 \cdot 108=184, so 100+4b=100+4 b= 184b=21184 \Longrightarrow b=21. Finally, the product of roots is (a2(b+c))(a2(bc))=(a2b)2c=16c\left(a^{2}-(b+\sqrt{c})\right)\left(a^{2}-(b-\sqrt{c})\right)=\left(a^{2}-b\right)^{2}-c=16-c so we have c=7c=7.

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