1973 USAMO Problems/Problem 4
Contents
Problem
Determine all the roots, real or complex, of the system of simultaneous equations
![$x+y+z=3$](http://latex.artofproblemsolving.com/a/d/5/ad5ff13ebc979a03c144ba96c88e6281c5556894.png)
,
![$x^3+y^3+z^3=3$](http://latex.artofproblemsolving.com/e/4/7/e47fe3685e8d2812abd631eb34e54bcffd0d2643.png)
Solution
Let ,
, and
be the roots of the cubic polynomial
. Let
,
, and
. From this,
,
, and
. Solving each of these,
,
, and
. Thus
,
, and
are the roots of the polynomial
. Thus
, and there are no other solutions.
Solution 2
Let have roots x, y, and z. Then
using our system of equations, so
. Thus, at least one of x, y, and z is equal to 1; without loss of generality, let
. Then we can use the system of equations to find that
as well, and so
is the only solution to the system of equations.
Alternate solutions are always welcome. If you have a different, elegant solution to this problem, please add it to this page.
See Also
1973 USAMO (Problems • Resources) | ||
Preceded by Problem 3 |
Followed by Problem 5 | |
1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 | ||
All USAMO Problems and Solutions |
The problems on this page are copyrighted by the Mathematical Association of America's American Mathematics Competitions.