For some nonzero reals , the numbers form an arithmetical progression in that order. If can be expressed as where is an integer, is a positive integer, and are coprime, determine the value of .
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Note that a + b , a − b are consecutive terms of the arithmetical progression. Thus the difference of the progression is − 2 b , and thus the third term a b is equal to a − 3 b , and the fourth term b a is equal to a − 5 b .
Since b = 0 , we can multiply b to both sides of the equation b a = a − 5 b , giving a = a b − 5 b 2 . We also have a b = a − 3 b . Substituting, we get:
a 5 b 2 + 3 b b ( 5 b + 3 ) = ( a − 3 b ) − 5 b 2 = 0 = 0
Since b = 0 , we have b = 5 − 3 . Substituting to a b = a − 3 b , we obtain:
a ⋅ 5 − 3 5 − 8 ⋅ a a = a − 3 ⋅ 5 − 3 = 5 9 = 8 − 9
Just to check, we can verify this: a + b = 4 0 − 6 9 , a − b = 4 0 − 2 1 , a b = 4 0 2 7 , b a = 8 1 5 indeed forms an arithmetical progression.
Thus a + b = 4 0 − 6 9 , giving x = − 6 9 , y = 4 0 , and ∣ x + y ∣ = ∣ − 6 9 + 4 0 ∣ = 2 9 .