The real numbers and satisfy the three equations , , and . If is the sum of the two possible values of , what is ?
Solution
Since , then . Thus, the equation becomes . Since the square of equals 4, then or . If , then . In this case, since , we get which gives . If , then . In this case, since , we get which gives . We can check by direct substitution that and are both solutions to the original system of equations. Since is the sum of the possible values of , we get and so .
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