Difference between revisions of "1983 AIME Problems/Problem 5"
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Suppose that the sum of the squares of two complex numbers <math>x</math> and <math>y</math> is <math>7</math> and the sum of the cubes is <math>10</math>. What is the largest real value that <math>x + y</math> can have? | Suppose that the sum of the squares of two complex numbers <math>x</math> and <math>y</math> is <math>7</math> and the sum of the cubes is <math>10</math>. What is the largest real value that <math>x + y</math> can have? | ||
− | == | + | == Solution == |
=== Solution 1 === | === Solution 1 === | ||
One way to solve this problem seems to be by [[substitution]]. | One way to solve this problem seems to be by [[substitution]]. |
Revision as of 06:00, 16 April 2012
Contents
[hide]Problem
Suppose that the sum of the squares of two complex numbers and is and the sum of the cubes is . What is the largest real value that can have?
Solution
Solution 1
One way to solve this problem seems to be by substitution.
and
Because we are only left with and , substitution won't be too bad. Let and .
We get and
Because we want the largest possible , let's find an expression for in terms of .
.
Substituting, . Factored, (the Rational Root Theorem may be used here, along with synthetic division)
The largest possible solution is therefore .
Solution 2
An alternate way to solve this is to let and .
Because we are looking for a value of that is real, we know that , and thus .
Expanding will give two equations, since the real and imaginary parts must match up.
Looking at the imaginary part of that equation, , so , and and are actually complex conjugates.
Looking at the real part of the equation and plugging in , , or .
Now, evaluating the real part of , which equals (ignoring the odd powers of , since they would not result in something in the form of ):
Since we know that , it can be plugged in for in the above equataion to yield:
Since the problem is looking for to be a positive integer, only positive half-integers (and whole-integers) need to be tested. From the Rational Roots theorem, all fail, but does work. Thus, the real part of both numbers is , and their sum is
See Also
1983 AIME (Problems • Answer Key • Resources) | ||
Preceded by Problem 4 |
Followed by Problem 6 | |
1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 | ||
All AIME Problems and Solutions |