1979 AHSME Problems/Problem 29

Problem

For each positive number $x$ , let $f(x)=\frac{\left(x+\frac{1}{x}\right)^6-\left(x^6+\frac{1}{x^6}\right)-2} {\left(x+\frac{1}{x}\right)^3+\left(x^3+\frac{1}{x^3}\right)}$ . The minimum value of $f(x)$ is

$\textbf{(A) }1\qquad \textbf{(B) }2\qquad \textbf{(C) }3\qquad \textbf{(D) }4\qquad \textbf{(E) }6$

Solution

Let $a = \left( x + \frac{1}{x} \right)^3$ and $b = x^3 + \frac{1}{x^3}$ . Then $\begin{align*} f(x) &= \frac{\left( x + \frac{1}{x} \right)^6 - (x^6 + \frac{1}{x^6}) - 2}{\left( x + \frac{1}{x} \right)^3 + (x^3 + \frac{1}{x^3})} \\ &= \frac{\left( x + \frac{1}{x} \right)^6 - (x^6 + 2 + \frac{1}{x^6})}{\left( x + \frac{1}{x} \right)^3 + (x^3 + \frac{1}{x^3})} \\ &= \frac{\left( x + \frac{1}{x} \right)^6 - (x^3 + \frac{1}{x^3})^2}{\left( x + \frac{1}{x} \right)^3 + (x^3 + \frac{1}{x^3})} \\ &= \frac{a^2 - b^2}{a + b}. \end{align*}$

By difference of squares, $\begin{align*} f(x) &= \frac{(a - b)(a + b)}{a + b} \\ &= a - b \\ &= \left( x + \frac{1}{x} \right)^3 - \left( x^3 + \frac{1}{x^3} \right) \\ &= \left( x^3 + 3x + \frac{3}{x} + \frac{1}{x^3} \right) - \left( x^3 + \frac{1}{x^3} \right) \\ &= 3x + \frac{3}{x} \\ &= 3 \left( x + \frac{1}{x} \right). \end{align*}$

By the AM-GM inequality, $x + \frac{1}{x} \ge 2,$ so $f(x) \ge 6$ . Furthermore, when $x = 1$ , $f(1) = 6$ , so the minimum value of $f(x)$ is $\boxed{6}$ .

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1979 AHSME Problems/Problem 29

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