How many real solutions exist for the equation above?
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I know solving this problem by graphing is easy, but I'm posting a calculus-based approach anyway.
Let f ( x ) = 6 ln ( x 2 + 1 ) − x . I don't know what the author means by using the notation lo g , so I just assume it's natural logarithm.
Then f ′ ( x ) = x 2 + 1 1 2 x − 1
f ′ ( x ) = 0 ⇔ 1 2 x = x 2 + 1 ⇔ x = 6 ± 3 5 .
It is obvious that f ′ ( x ) < 0 , ∀ x ∈ ( − ∞ , 6 − 3 5 ) so f ( x ) is strictly decreasing in this interval.
In the same way, it can be concluded that f ( x ) is strictly increasing in ( 6 − 3 5 , 6 + 3 5 ) , and strictly decreasing again in ( 6 + 3 5 , + ∞ ) .
Notice that, if f ( x ) is continuous in the closed interval [ a , b ] and f ( a ) f ( b ) < 0 , then there exists some x 0 in this interval which is a root of f ( x ) . Moreover, if f ( x ) is strictly monotonous in this interval, then x 0 is the only root of f ( x ) in [ a , b ]
f ( − 1 ) > 0 and f ( 6 − 3 5 ) < 0 , then f ( x ) must cross the x-axis exactly once in the interval ( − 1 , 6 − 3 5 ) , hence there is one root in this interval (Yes, it's x = 0 !).
Apply the same logic for the two remaining intervals, we can prove that the equation has 3 roots.