1973 USAMO Problems/Problem 4

Problem

Determine all the roots, real or complex, of the system of simultaneous equations

$x+y+z=3$ ,

$x^2+y^2+z^2=3$ ,

$x^3+y^3+z^3=3$ .

Solution

Let $x$ , $y$ , and $z$ be the roots of the cubic $x^3+ax^2+bx+c$ . Let $S_1=x+y+z=3$ , $S_2=x^2+y^2+z^2=3$ , and $S_3=x^3+y^3+z^3=3$ . From this, $S_1+a=0$ , $S_2+aS_1+b=0$ , and $S_3+aS_2+bS_1+c=0$ . Solving each of these, $a=-3$ , $b=3$ , and $c=-1$ . Thus $x$ , $y$ , and $z$ are the roots of the polynomial $x^3-3x^2+3x-1=(x-1)^3$ . Thus $x+y+z=1$ , and there are no other solutions.

1973 USAMO (Problems • Resources)
Preceded by Problem 3	Followed by Problem 5
1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5
All USAMO Problems and Solutions

Page

Toolbox

Search

1973 USAMO Problems/Problem 4

Problem

Solution

See also