Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / HMMT February /230 of 1302

HMMT February

Algebra Difficulty 4.9 AIME Find the answer

Consider the graph in 3-space of 0=xyz(x+y)(y+z)(z+x)(x−y)(y−z)(z−x)0=xyz(x+y)(y+z)(z+x)(x-y)(y-z)(z-x). This graph divides 3-space into NN connected regions. What is NN?

A number or a short expression. Fractions can be typed as 3/2, and spacing doesn't matter.

Solution

Note that reflecting for each choice of sign for x,y,zx, y, z, we get new regions. Therefore, we can restrict to the case where x,y,z>0x, y, z>0. In this case, the sign of the expression only depends on (x−y)(y−z)(z−x)(x-y)(y-z)(z-x). It is easy to see that for this expression, every one of the 3!=63!=6 orderings for {x,y,z}\{x, y, z\} contributes a region. Therefore, our answer is 23⋅3!=482^{3} \cdot 3!=48.

Want a route through all this instead of an archive? The track puts 2,604 problems in a working order, from Junior Challenge level to the IMO shortlist.

Source: Omni-MATH, licensed Apache-2.0. Statement reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.