But I Don't Know The Exact Values!

Algebra Level 3

( x a ) ( x b ) + ( x c ) ( x b ) + ( x c ) ( x a ) = 0 \large (x-a)(x-b)+(x-c)(x-b)+(x-c)(x-a)=0

Let a , b a,b and c c be real numbers. If the roots (in x x ) of the equation above are equal, then which of the following statements must be correct?

b 2 4 a c = 0 b^2 - 4ac =0 a = b = c a=b=c a + b + c = 0 a+b+c=0 None of these choices

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1 solution

Pranshu Gaba
May 5, 2016

Let us first expand the terms on the LHS to get a better idea of the coefficients of the quadratic equation.

x 2 ( a + b ) x + a b + x 2 ( b + c ) x + b c + x 2 ( c + a ) x + c a = 0 3 x 2 2 ( a + b + c ) x + ( a b + b c + c a ) = 0 \begin{aligned} & \color{#D61F06}{x^2 - (a +b)x + ab} + \color{#20A900}{x^2 - (b +c)x + bc} + \color{#3D99F6}{x^2 - (c +a)x + ca} = 0 \\ \iff & 3x^2 - 2 (a + b + c) x + (ab + bc + ca) = 0 \end{aligned}

If its roots of this polynomial are equal, then the discriminant of this quadratic equation is equal to zero.

( 2 ( a + b + c ) ) 2 4 × 3 × ( a b + b c + c a ) = 0 4 ( a + b + c ) 2 4 × 3 × ( a b + b c + c a ) = 0 ( a + b + c ) 2 3 × ( a b + b c + c a ) = 0 a 2 + b 2 + c 2 ( a b + b c + c a ) = 0 \begin{aligned} & \left(-2(a + b + c) \right)^2 - 4 \times 3 \times (ab + bc + ca ) = 0 \\ \iff & 4(a + b + c)^2 - 4 \times 3 \times (ab + bc + ca ) = 0 \\ \iff & (a + b + c) ^2 - 3 \times (ab + bc + ca ) = 0 \\ \iff & a^2 + b^2 + c^2 - (ab + bc + ca) = 0 \\ \end{aligned}

The LHS can be written as 1 2 ( a 2 + b 2 2 a b + b 2 + c 2 2 b c + c 2 + a 2 2 c a ) = 0 \frac{1}{2} \left(\color{#D61F06}{a^2 + b^2 - 2ab} + \color{#20A900}{b^2 + c^2 - 2bc} + \color{#3D99F6}{c^2 + a^2 - 2ca} \right) = 0

This terms on the LHS can be factorized as 1 2 ( ( a b ) 2 + ( b c ) 2 + ( c a ) 2 ) = 0 \frac{1}{2} \left( \color{#D61F06}{(a-b)^2} + \color{#20A900}{(b-c)^2} + \color{#3D99F6}{(c- a)^2} \right) = 0 .

By the trivial inequality , any perfect square is always non-negative. Thus for the LHS to be zero, each of the perfect square should be zero at the same time. This is only possible when a = b = c a =b =c . _\square

Same way! Nice solution (+1)

abc xyz - 5 years, 1 month ago

nice solution man!!!!!!!

Snehashis Mukherjee - 5 years ago

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