How many real numbers x are solutions to the following equation? 2003x+2004x=2005x
A number or a short expression. Spacing and $ signs are ignored.
Solution
Rewrite the equation as (2003/2005)x+(2004/2005)x=1. The left side is strictly decreasing in x, so there cannot be more than one solution. On the other hand, the left side equals 2>1 when x=0 and goes to 0 when x is very large, so it must equal 1 somewhere in between. Therefore there is one solution.
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Source: Omni-MATH,
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