Difference between revisions of "2006 AIME I Problems/Problem 5"
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+ | [[Category:Intermediate Algebra Problems]] |
Revision as of 16:19, 18 July 2006
Problem
The number can be written as where and are positive integers. Find
Solution
We begin by equating the two expressions:
Squaring both sides yeilds:
Since , , and are integers:
1:
2:
3:
4:
Solving the first three equations gives:
Multiplying these equations gives:
If it was required to solve for each variable, dividing the product of the three variables by the product of any two variables would yeild the third variable. Doing so yeilds:
Which clearly fits the fourth equation: