Kill it with identities

Algebra Level 3

The sum of 3 numbers, the sum of their squares, and the sum of their cubes are all equal to 6.

Find the product of these 3 numbers.


The answer is 20.

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3 solutions

Let a,b,c are three such numbers then, we are given a + b + c = 6 , a 2 + b 2 + c 2 = 6 , a 3 + b 3 + c 3 = 6 a+b+c = 6, a^2+b^2+c^2 = 6, a^3+b^3+c^3 = 6 .
( a + b + c ) 2 = 36 (a+b+c)^2 = 36 a 2 + b 2 + c 2 + 2 a b + 2 b c + 2 c a = 36 \Rightarrow a^2+b^2+c^2+2ab+2bc+2ca = 36 6 + 2 ( a b + b c + c a ) = 36 \Rightarrow 6+2(ab+bc+ca) = 36
a b + b c + c a = 15 \Rightarrow ab+bc+ca = 15 .....(1)
Now, a 3 + b 3 + c 3 3 a b c = ( a + b + c ) ( a 2 + b 2 + c 2 a b b c c a ) . a^3+b^3+c^3-3abc = (a+b+c)(a^2+b^2+c^2-ab-bc-ca).


6 3 a b c = 6 × ( 6 15 ) . [ f r o m ( 1 ) ] \Rightarrow 6-3abc = 6\times (6-15). [from (1)]
3 a b c = 60 a b c = 20 \Rightarrow 3abc = 60 \Rightarrow abc = 20

A solution which resembles the problem title! Nice solution with the right identities used at the right place. Thanks for the solution

Sathvik Acharya - 4 years, 2 months ago

did the same way!!

Vaibhav Thakkar - 4 years, 1 month ago

Where did the -3abc come from?

Leinad World - 4 years, 1 month ago

Or you can use Newton's Sum which is very systematic and much more easy to use to construct a polynomial with a,b,c as roots. After that divide the constant term by -1 to get the answer.

Daniel Hwang - 4 years, 1 month ago

Can one solve for the value of the 3 numbers? I presume they must be complex

Greg Grapsas - 4 years, 1 month ago

Log in to reply

They are complex and yes the problem is not worth to solve for a,b,c

Sathvik Acharya - 4 years, 1 month ago

Letting a , b , c a, b, c be the numbers, one has

36 = 6 2 = ( a + b + c ) 2 = a 2 + b 2 + c 2 + 2 a b + 2 b c + 2 a c = 6 + 2 a b + 2 b c + 2 a c 36 = 6^2 = (a+b+c)^2 = a^2 + b^2 + c^2 + 2ab + 2bc + 2ac = 6 + 2ab + 2bc + 2ac .

Thus a b + b c + a c = 15 ab + bc + ac = 15 . Let P = a b c P = abc .

The polynomial

( x a ) ( x b ) ( x c ) = x 3 ( a + b + c ) x 2 + ( a b + b c + a c ) x a b c = x 3 6 x 2 + 15 x P (x-a)(x-b)(x-c) = x^3 - (a+b+c)x^2 + (ab + bc + ac)x - abc = x^3 - 6x^2 + 15x - P .

Since this polynomial equals zero when x = a , b , c x=a,b,c , one has

a 3 6 a 2 + 15 a P = 0 a^3 - 6a^2 + 15a - P =0

b 3 6 b 2 + 15 b P = 0 b^3 - 6b^2 + 15b - P = 0

c 3 6 c 2 + 15 c P = 0 c^3 - 6c^2 + 15c - P =0 ,

and adding these equations gives

( a 3 + b 3 + c 3 ) 6 ( a 2 + b 2 + c 2 ) + 15 ( a + b + c ) 3 P = 0 (a^3 + b^3 + c^3) - 6(a^2 + b^2 + c^2) + 15(a+b+c) - 3P=0

6 36 + 90 3 P = 0 6 - 36 + 90 - 3P=0 ,

whence P = 20. P=20.

Mo H
Apr 26, 2017

It can simply be shown that: (a+b+c)^3+2 (a^3+b^3+c^3)-3 (a^2+b^2+c^2)(a+b+c)=6abc Since, (a+b+c), (a^3+b^3+c^3), (a^2+b^2+c^2) = 6 Then all terms on the left hand side within the brackets can be computed easily. Then after dividing through by 6 on both sides and computing the left hand side your left with 20=abc

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