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Algebra Level 4

What is the sum of all real x x such that

( 2 x 4 ) 3 + ( 4 x 2 ) 3 = ( 4 x + 2 x 6 ) 3 ? (2^x-4)^3 + (4^x - 2 )^3 = (4^x+2^x - 6)^3?


The answer is 3.5.

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2 solutions

Shaurya Chats
Jul 21, 2014

Take 2 x 4 2^{x} - 4 as a a , 4 x 2 4^{x} - 2 as b b , and apply a 3 + b 3 = ( a + b ) 3 a^{3} + b^{3} = {(a + b)}^{3} , which gives a + b = 0 a + b = 0 and a b = 0 ab = 0 . Solving, we get x = 2 , 1 2 , 1 x = 2 , \frac{1}{2} , 1 . Summing up, we get x = 7 2 x = \boxed{\frac{7}{2}} .

Excellent :D

Jayakumar Krishnan - 6 years, 10 months ago
Andy Shue
Jan 19, 2015

We know that ( 2 x 4 ) + ( 4 x 2 ) = 4 x + 2 x 6 (2^x-4)+(4^x-2)=4^x+2^x-6

So we can rewrite this question as a 3 + b 3 = ( a + b ) 3 a^3+b^3=(a+b)^3

By expanding and simplifying, we find that 0 = a 2 b + b 2 a = a b ( a + b ) 0=a^2b+b^2a=ab(a+b)

By re-substituting a and b, we find that ( 2 x 4 ) ( 4 x 2 ) ( 4 x + 2 x 6 ) = 0 (2^x-4)(4^x-2)(4^x+2^x-6)=0

If any individual multiplier is 0, this statement will be true so

2 x 4 = 0 2^x-4=0

4 x 2 = 0 4^x-2=0

4 x + 2 x 6 = 0 4^x+2^x-6=0

The first two are fairly easy to simplify and we find that x = 2 , 1 2 \boxed{x=2, \frac{1}{2}}

The third is not as clear to see, but it can be rewritten as a "quadratic" and factored as ( 2 x ) 2 + 2 x 6 = 0 (2^x)^2+2^x-6=0

( 2 x + 3 ) ( 2 x 2 ) = 0 (2^x+3)(2^x-2)=0

Now we can see our final x value of x = 1 \boxed{x=1}

Overall S u m = 3.5 \boxed{Sum=3.5}

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