Maths Olympiad Prep

Track / Stage 5 / 37 of 400 #637 of 1964

Problem 637

AIME late
Algebra Difficulty 5.1 Find the answer

5. Let x,y,zx, y, z be the roots of the equation t32t29t1=0t^{3}-2 t^{2}-9 t-1=0. Find yzx+xzy+xyz\frac{y z}{x}+\frac{x z}{y}+\frac{x y}{z}.

(12 points)

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

Official solution

Solution. Let's bring the desired expression to a common denominator: y2z2+x2z2+x2y2xyz\frac{y^{2} z^{2}+x^{2} z^{2}+x^{2} y^{2}}{x y z}. The polynomial has 3 different real roots, since P(100)0,P(0)0\mathrm{P}(-100)0, \mathrm{P}(0)0. By Vieta's theorem x+y+z=2,xy+xz+yz=9,xyz=1x+y+z=2, x y+x z+y z=-9, x y z=1.

x2y2+x2z2+y2z2=(xy+xz+yz)22(x2yz+y2xz+z2xy)=(xy+xz+yz)22xyz(x+y+z)=81212=77 \begin{aligned} & x^{2} y^{2}+x^{2} z^{2}+y^{2} z^{2}=(x y+x z+y z)^{2}-2\left(x^{2} y z+y^{2} x z+z^{2} x y\right) \\ & =(x y+x z+y z)^{2}-2 x y z(x+y+z)=81-2 * 1 * 2=77 \end{aligned}

Answer: 77.

Source: NuminaMath-1.5, licensed Apache-2.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic, difficulty and ordering added by this site.