No Cubic Discriminant Involved

Algebra Level 4

Find the number of integral values of k k such that the equation x 3 27 x + k = 0 x^3-27x+k=0 has at least 2 integral roots of x x .


The answer is 2.

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1 solution

Shaun Leong
Nov 6, 2016

Let the roots be a , b , c a,b,c where a , b a,b are integers. a + b + c = 0 a+b+c=0 c = ( a + b ) \Rightarrow c=-(a+b) a b + b c + c a = 27 ab+bc+ca=-27 a b ( a + b ) 2 = 27 \Rightarrow ab-(a+b)^2=-27 b 2 a b + a 2 27 = 0 \Rightarrow b^2-ab+a^2-27=0 = 108 3 a 2 \Rightarrow \triangle = 108-3a^2 Since b b is an integer, the discriminant is a perfect square. It has a factor of 3 3 already, so a a must also be a multiple of 3 3 .

The discriminant is also non-negative, so a 2 36 a^2 \leq 36 a = 6 , 3 , 0 , 3 , 6 \Rightarrow a = -6,3,0,3,6 Trying all values of a a , all the solutions are ( a , b , c ) = ( 6 , 3 , 3 ) , ( 3 , 3 , 6 ) , ( 3 , 6 , 3 ) , ( 3 , 6 , 3 ) , ( 3 , 3 , 6 ) , ( 6 , 3 , 3 ) (a,b,c)=(-6,3,3),(-3,-3,6),(-3,6,-3),(3,-6,3),(3,3,-6),(6,-3,-3) k = 54 or 54 \Rightarrow k = \boxed{-54 \mbox{ or } 54}

Can someone please suggest an alternative way to solve this problem? It would be great.

Mayank Jain - 4 years, 7 months ago

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draw the graph of x^3-27x=0 and check at x=3 and x+-3 .that is where the integral values are attained

Zerocool 141 - 4 years, 6 months ago

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