Maths Olympiad Prep

Track / Stage 5 / 149 of 400 #749 of 1964

Problem 749

AIME late
Algebra Difficulty 5.3 Find the answer

1. Given z1,z2z_{1}, z_{2} are conjugate complex numbers, if z1z2=43,z1z22R\left|z_{1}-z_{2}\right|=4 \sqrt{3}, \frac{z_{1}}{z_{2}^{2}} \in \mathbf{R}, then z1=\left|z_{1}\right|=

A number or a short expression. Spacing, $ signs and \frac vs / are all fine.

Official solution

Noticing z2=z1z_{2}=\overline{z_{1}}, we have z1z22=z1z22=z1zˉ22z1zˉ22=z22z1z13=z23\frac{z_{1}}{z_{2}^{2}}=\frac{\overline{z_{1}}}{z_{2}^{2}}=\frac{\overline{z_{1}}}{\bar{z}_{2}^{2}} \Rightarrow z_{1} \cdot \bar{z}_{2}^{2}=z_{2}^{2} \cdot \overline{z_{1}} \Rightarrow z_{1}^{3}=z_{2}^{3}, thus {z12+z1z2+z22=0,(z1z2)(z1z2)=48{z12+z1z2+z22=0,z12+2z1z2z22=48z12=z1z2=16\left\{\begin{array}{l}z_{1}^{2}+z_{1} z_{2}+z_{2}^{2}=0, \\ \left(z_{1}-z_{2}\right)\left(\overline{z_{1}}-\overline{z_{2}}\right)=48\end{array} \Rightarrow\left\{\begin{array}{l}z_{1}^{2}+z_{1} z_{2}+z_{2}^{2}=0, \\ -z_{1}^{2}+2 z_{1} z_{2}-z_{2}^{2}=48\end{array} \Rightarrow\left|z_{1}\right|^{2}=z_{1} z_{2}=16\right.\right.. Therefore, z1=4\left|z_{1}\right|=4.

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