Suppose is the quadratic function with leading coefficient 1 whose graph is tangent to the lines and . The sum of the coefficients of is , where and are positive coprime integers. Find the value of .
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Suppose the quadratic function is g ( x ) = x 2 + b x + c .
The two lines tangent to it can be rewritten as follows:
Line 1: y = − 5 x + 6
Line 2: y = x − 1
By definition of tangent, there must be x 1 , x 2 such that,
x 1 2 + b x 1 + c = − 5 x 1 + 6
x 2 2 + b x 2 + c = x 2 − 1
The two equations above can be expressed as follows:
x 1 2 + ( b + 5 ) x 1 + ( c − 6 ) = 0
x 2 2 + ( b − 1 ) x 2 + ( c + 1 ) = 0
By definition of tangent again, the discriminant should be zero:
D 1 = ( b + 5 ) 2 − 4 ( 1 ) ( c − 6 ) = 0
D 2 = ( b − 1 ) 2 − 4 ( 1 ) ( c + 1 ) = 0
Upon solving the system above, we get
b = − 3 1 3
c = 9 5 5 .
So, the sum of the coefficients of g is given by
1 − 3 1 3 + 9 5 5 = 9 2 5 .
This leads to,
p = 2 5
q = 9 .
Hence,
1 0 0 p + q = 1 0 0 ( 2 5 ) + 9 = 2 5 0 9 .