1995 AIME Problems/Problem 5

Problem

For certain real values of $a, b, c,$ and $d_{},$ the equation $x^4+ax^3+bx^2+cx+d=0$ has four non-real roots. The product of two of these roots is $13+i$ and the sum of the other two roots is $3+4i,$ where $i=\sqrt{-1}.$ Find $b.$

Solution

Since the coefficients of the polynomial are real, it follows that the non-real roots must come in complex conjugate pairs. Let the first two roots be $m,n$ . Since $m+n$ is not real, $m,n$ are not conjugates, so the other pair of roots must be the conjugates of $m,n$ . Let $m'$ be the conjugate of $m$ , and $n'$ be the conjugate of $n$ . Then, $m\cdot n = 13 + i,m' + n' = 3 + 4i\Longrightarrow m'\cdot n' = 13 - i,m + n = 3 - 4i.$ By Vieta's formulas, we have that $b = mm' + nn' + mn' + nm' + mn + m'n' = (m + n)(m' + n') + mn + m'n' = \boxed{051}$ .

1995 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

Page

Toolbox

Search

1995 AIME Problems/Problem 5

Problem

Solution

See also