Maths Olympiad Prep

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Algebra Difficulty 5.1 AIME, harder Find the answer

Let zz be a complex number. In the complex plane, the distance from zz to 1 is 2 , and the distance from z2z^{2} to 1 is 6 . What is the real part of zz ?

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

Solution

Note that we must have z1=2|z-1|=2 and \left|z^{2}-1\right|=6,so, so |z+1|=\frac{\left|z^{2}-1\right|}{|z-1|}=3.Thus,thedistancefrom. Thus, the distance from zto1inthecomplexplaneis2andthedistancefrom to 1 in the complex plane is 2 and the distance from zto1inthecomplexplaneis3.Thus, to -1 in the complex plane is 3 . Thus, z, 1,-1formatrianglewithsidelengths form a triangle with side lengths 2,3,3.Theareaofatrianglewithsides. The area of a triangle with sides 2,2,3canbecomputedtobe374 can be computed to be \frac{3 \sqrt{7}}{4} by standard techniques, so the length of the altitude from zz to the real axis is \frac{3 \sqrt{7}}{4} \cdot \frac{2}{2}=\frac{3 \sqrt{7}}{4}.Thedistancebetween1andthefootfrom. The distance between 1 and the foot from ztotherealaxisis22(374)2=14 to the real axis is \sqrt{2^{2}-\left(\frac{3 \sqrt{7}}{4}\right)^{2}}=\frac{1}{4} by the Pythagorean Theorem. It is clear that zz has positive imaginary part as the distance from zz to -1 is greater than the distance from zz to 1 , so the distance from 0 to the foot from zz to the real axis is 1+14=541+\frac{1}{4}=\frac{5}{4}. This is exactly the real part of zz that we are trying to compute.

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