Determine all real numbers such that the inequality has exactly one solution in .
Solution
Let . Note that , so the graph of is a parabola that goes through . Then, the condition that has exactly one solution means that the parabola has exactly one point in the strip , which is possible if and only if the parabola is tangent to . That is, has exactly one solution. Then, the discriminant must be zero. Solving the equation yields .
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.