Maths Olympiad Prep

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Algebra Difficulty 5.0 AIME, harder Find the answer

Solve the equation x+4x+16x++42008x+3x=1\sqrt{x+\sqrt{4x+\sqrt{16x+\sqrt{\ldots+\sqrt{4^{2008}x+3}}}}}-\sqrt{x}=1

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

Solution

Rewrite the equation to get x+4x+16x++42008x+3=x+1\sqrt{x+\sqrt{4x+\sqrt{16x+\sqrt{\ldots+\sqrt{4^{2008}x+3}}}}}=\sqrt{x}+1 Squaring both sides yields 4x++42008x+3=2x+1\sqrt{4x+\sqrt{\ldots+\sqrt{4^{2008}x+3}}}=2\sqrt{x}+1 Squaring again yields 16x++42008x+3=4x+1\sqrt{16x+\sqrt{\ldots+\sqrt{4^{2008}x+3}}}=4\sqrt{x}+1 One can see that by continuing this process one gets 42008x+3=22008x+1\sqrt{4^{2008}x+3}=2^{2008}\sqrt{x}+1 so that 222008x=22 \cdot 2^{2008} \sqrt{x}=2. Hence x=42008x=4^{-2008}. It is also easy to check that this is indeed a solution to the original equation.

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