Define the function f:R→R by f(x)={x2+x4+2x10 if x∈/(−32,0] otherwise The sum of all real numbers x for which f10(x)=1 can be written as da+bc, where a,b,c,d are integers, d is positive, c is square-free, and gcd(a,b,d)=1. Find 1000a+100b+10c+d.
A number or a short expression. Spacing and $ signs are ignored.
Solution
If x∈(−32,0], it is evidently not a solution, so let us assume otherwise. Then, we find f(x)=2xx4+2x−x2 which implies that xf(x)2+x2f(x)−1/2=0, by reverse engineering the quadratic formula. Therefore, if x>0,f(x) is the unique positive real t so that xt2+x2t=1/2. However, then x is the unique positive real so that xt2+x2t=1/2, so f(t)=x. This implies that if x>0, then f(f(x))=x. Suppose that f10(x)=1. Then, since f(x)>0, we find that f(x)=f10(f(x))=f11(x)=f(1). Conversely, if f(x)=f(1), then f10(x)=f9(f(x))=f9(f(1))=1, so we only need to solve f(x)=f(1). This is equivalent to x2+x4+2x=1+3⟺x4+2x=1+3−x2⟹x4+2x=x4−2(1+3)x2+(1+3)2, which is equivalent to 2(1+3)x2+2x−(1+3)2=0 Obviously, if x=1 then f(x)=f(1), so we already know 1 is a root. This allows us to easily factor the quadratic and find that the other root is −21+3. This ends up not being extraneous-perhaps the shortest way to see this is to observe that if x=−21+3, 1+3−x2=(1+3)(1−41+3)>0 so since we already know x4+2x=(1+3−x2)2 we have x4+2x=1+3−x2 Therefore, the sum of solutions is 21−3.
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