An algebra problem by Anuj Shikarkhane

Algebra Level 2

If a + b + c = 0 a+b+c=0 and a b c 0 abc \neq 0 , then find the value of

( a + b ) ( b + c ) ( c + a ) a b c \large \frac{(a+b)(b+c)(c+a)}{abc}


The answer is -1.

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2 solutions

Chew-Seong Cheong
Sep 15, 2017

( a + b ) ( b + c ) ( c + a ) a b c = ( c ) ( a ) ( b ) a b c = a b c a b c = 1 \dfrac {(a+b)(b+c)(c+a)}{abc} = \dfrac {(-c)(-a)(-b)}{abc} = \dfrac {-abc}{abc} = \boxed{-1}

Ong Zi Qian
Nov 14, 2017

In these kind of questions, all the a a , b b and c c could be factorized.

Therefore, we can put any a a , b b and c c that satisfy a + b + c = 0 a+b+c=0 and a b c 0 abc\neq0 ,

Let us say that a = 1 a=1 , b = 1 b=1 and c = 2 c=-2 ,

( a + b ) ( b + c ) ( c + a ) a b c = [ ( 1 ) + ( 1 ) ] [ ( 1 ) + ( 2 ) ] [ ( 2 ) + ( 1 ) ] ( 1 ) ( 1 ) ( 2 ) = ( 2 ) ( 1 ) ( 1 ) 2 = 2 2 = 1 \large \frac{(a+b)(b+c)(c+a)}{abc}\\=\large \frac{[(1)+(1)][(1)+(-2)][(-2)+(1)]}{(1)(1)(-2)}\\=\large \frac{(2)(-1)(-1)}{-2}\\=\large \frac{2}{-2}\\=\boxed{-1}

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