2012 AIME II Problems/Problem 6

Problem 6

Let $z=a+bi$ be the complex number with $\vert z \vert = 5$ and $b > 0$ such that the distance between $(1+2i)z^3$ and $z^5$ is maximized, and let $z^4 = c+di$ . Find $c+d$ .

Solution

Let's consider the maximization constraint first: we want to maximize the value of $|z^5 - (1+2i)z^3|$ Simplifying, we have

$|z^3| * |z^2 - (1+2i)|$

$=|z|^3 * |z^2 - (1+2i)|$

$=125|z^2 - (1+2i)|$

Thus we only need to maximize the value of $|z^2 - (1+2i)|$ .

To maximize this value, we must have that $z^2$ is in the opposite direction of $1+2i$ . The unit vector in the complex plane in the desired direction is $\frac{-1}{\sqrt{5}} + \frac{-2}{\sqrt{5}} i$ . Furthermore, we know that the magnitude of $z^2$ is $25$ , because the magnitude of $z$ is $5$ . From this information, we can find that $z^2 = \sqrt{5} (-5 - 10i)$

Squaring, we get $z^4 = 5 (25 - 100 + 100i) = -375 + 500i$ . Finally, $c+d = -375 + 500 = 125$

2012 AIME II (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
Preceded by Problem 5	Followed by Problem 7
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2012 AIME II Problems/Problem 6

Problem 6

Solution

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