2011 AIME I Problems/Problem 15
Contents
Problem
For some integer , the polynomial has the three integer roots , , and . Find .
Solution
With Vieta's formula, we know that , and .
since any one being zero will make the the other 2 .
. WLOG, let .
Then if , then and if , .
We know that , have the same sign. So . ( and )
Also, maximize when if we fixed . Hence, .
So .
so .
Now we have limited a to .
Let's us analyze .
Here is a table:
We can tell we don't need to bother with ,
, So won't work. ,
is not divisible by , , which is too small to get
, is not divisible by or or , we can clearly tell that is too much
Hence, , . , .
Answer: 089
Solution 2
Starting off like the previous solution, we know that a + b + c = 0, and ab + bc + ac = -2011
Therefore,
Substituting,
Factoring the perfect square, we get:
Therefore, a sum (a+b) squared minus a product (ab) gives 2011.
We can guess and check different ’s starting with since .
therefore
Since no factors of can sum to ( being the largest sum), a + b cannot equal .
making
and so cannot work either
We can continue to do this until we reach
making
, so one root is and another is . The roots sum to zero, so the last root must be .
|-49|+10+39 = 98
Answer: 089
See also
2011 AIME I (Problems • Answer Key • Resources) | ||
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