If a + b = 2 and a 3 + b 3 = 3 8 , find the product of all possible values of a and b .
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Very neat solution! +1
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:) Thx. Calvin teach me how to be neat when writing solution
Awesome (+1)
a + b = 2
( a + b ) 3 = a 3 + 3 ( a b ) ( a + b ) + b 3 = 8
Since a + b = 2 and a 3 + b 3 = 3 8 , ( 3 ) ( a b ) ( 2 ) + 3 8 = 8 , giving us a b = − 5 .
Now, since we are given the sum and the product of two numbers, we can deduce that solving for a and b will give us a quadratic equation for both a and b . Letting the two values of a and b be a 1 , a 2 and b 1 , b 2 respectively, we get that if a = a 1 , b = b 1 and so on, so we get that a 1 b 1 = a 2 b 2 = − 5 . So, a 1 b 1 a 2 b 2 = ( − 5 ) ( − 5 ) = 2 5 .
a^{3} + b^{3} = (a+b)(a^{2} - ab + b^{2})
38=2( ( a + b )^{2} - 3ab )
19=4 - 3ab
-5=ab
There are 2 possibilities:
a=x , b= -5/x
or a= -5/x , b = x
(for some x which is a solution of (x-a)(x-b)=0)
Product of all possible a's and b's =5*5=25
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Quadratic equation of a : a 3 + b 3 3 8 3 8 1 9 1 9 1 9 1 9 1 5 0 By using Vieta’s formula, a 1 × a 2 Quadratic equation of b : 1 9 1 9 1 9 1 9 1 5 0 By using Vieta’s formula, b 1 × b 2 Now multiply the possibility, a 1 × a 2 × b 1 × b 2 = ( a + b ) ( ( a − b ) 2 ) = 2 ( a 2 + b 2 − a b ) = 2 ( ( a − b ) 2 + a b ) = ( a − b ) 2 + a b = ( a − ( 2 − a ) ) 2 + a ( 2 − a ) = 4 a 2 − 8 a + 2 2 + 2 a − a 2 = − 6 a + 3 a 2 + 4 = 3 a 2 − 6 a = 3 a 2 − 6 a − 1 5 = 3 − 1 5 = − 5 = ( a − b ) 2 + a b = ( ( 2 − b ) − b ) 2 + ( 2 − b ) − b = 4 + 4 b 2 − 8 b + 2 b − b 2 = − 6 b + 3 b 2 + 4 = 3 b 2 − 6 b = 3 b 2 − 6 b − 1 5 = 3 − 1 5 = − 5 = − 5 × − 5 = 2 5