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Algebra Difficulty 5.2 AIME, harder Find the answer

Let \otimes be a binary operation that takes two positive real numbers and returns a positive real number. Suppose further that \otimes is continuous, commutative (ab=ba)(a \otimes b=b \otimes a), distributive across multiplication (a(bc)=(ab)(ac))(a \otimes(b c)=(a \otimes b)(a \otimes c)), and that 22=42 \otimes 2=4. Solve the equation xy=xx \otimes y=x for yy in terms of xx for x>1x>1.

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

Solution

We note that (abk)=(ab)k\left(a \otimes b^{k}\right)=(a \otimes b)^{k} for all positive integers kk. Then for all rational numbers pq\frac{p}{q} we have abpq=(ab1q)p=(ab)pqa \otimes b^{\frac{p}{q}}=\left(a \otimes b^{\frac{1}{q}}\right)^{p}=(a \otimes b)^{\frac{p}{q}}. So by continuity, for all real numbers a,ba, b, it follows that 2a2b=(22)ab=4ab2^{a} \otimes 2^{b}=(2 \otimes 2)^{a b}=4^{a b}. Therefore given positive reals x,yx, y, we have xy=2log2(x)2log2(y)=x \otimes y=2^{\log _{2}(x)} \otimes 2^{\log _{2}(y)}= 4log2(x)log2(y)4^{\log _{2}(x) \log _{2}(y)}. If x=4log2(x)log2(y)=22log2(x)log2(y)x=4^{\log _{2}(x) \log _{2}(y)}=2^{2 \log _{2}(x) \log _{2}(y)} then log2(x)=2log2(x)log2(y)\log _{2}(x)=2 \log _{2}(x) \log _{2}(y) and 1=2log2(y)=log2(y2)1=2 \log _{2}(y)=\log _{2}\left(y^{2}\right). Thus y=2y=\sqrt{2} regardless of xx.

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