( x 2 3 x + 1 ) 12 x = 1 \left(x^2-3x+1\right)^{12-x}=1

Algebra Level 2

What is the sum of integers x x that satisfy ( x 2 3 x + 1 ) 12 x = 1 ? \left(x^2-3x+1\right)^{12-x}=1?

20 19 18 17

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3 solutions

Case 1: a 0 = 1 a^{0} = 1 for any a a .

12 x = 0 12-x = 0

Which gives x = 12 x = 12 .

Case 2: 1 a = 1 1^{a} = 1 for any a a .

x 2 3 x + 1 = 1 x^{2} - 3x + 1 = 1

Which gives x = 0 , 3 x = 0, 3 .

Case 3: ( 1 ) a = 1 (-1)^{a} = 1 for any even number a a . *We have to check that 12 a 12 - a is even. (or a a is even.)

x 2 3 x + 1 = 1 x^{2} - 3x + 1 = -1

Which gives x = 1 , 2 x = 1, 2 . But 1 1 can't be used when we test the equation.

Therefore, the sum = 12 + 3 + 0 + 2 = 17 12+3+0+2 = \boxed{17} .

Good solution.

jinay patel - 7 years, 3 months ago

Their is a flaw in second last statement,
Roots of x 2 3 x + 1 = 1 x^2 -3x +1 = -1 are 1,2 not -1 , 2.
But later on,it is neglected as mentioned by @milind prabhu ,you got the correct answer just by chance.

Akhil Bansal - 5 years, 8 months ago
Milind Prabhu
Mar 14, 2014

1 raised to any integer is 1.

so x 2 3 x + 1 = 1 { x }^{ 2 }-3x+1=1

x 2 3 x = 0 { x }^{ 2 }-3x=0

x ( x 3 ) = 0 x(x-3)=0

so x = 3 x =3 and x = 0 x=0

any integer raised to 0 is also 1

so 12 x = 0 12-x=0

x = 12 x=12

1 -1 integer raised to any even integer is 1

so x 2 3 x + 2 = 0 { x }^{ 2 }-3x+2=0

( x 1 ) ( x 2 ) (x-1)(x-2)

so x = 1 x=1 and x = 2 x=2

but 12 x 12-x should be even. so x = 1 x=1 cannot be considered as 12 1 = 11 12-1=11

so the sum of all integral values of x is

3 + 0 + 12 + 2 = 17 3+0+12+2=17

Arijit Banerjee
Mar 7, 2014

0,3 and 1,2 are the four solutions after solving ( once for 1 and for -1) .We cannot take 1 because -1 will come .Now if the power is 0 then also the answer will come 1 so 12 is another solution . So answer is 0+3+2+12 = 17.

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