Nested Relations

Algebra Level 4

x = 1 y + 1 y + 1 y + 1 y + . . . \huge x=\frac{1}{y+\frac{1}{y+\frac{1}{y+\frac{1}{y+...}}}}

y = x + x + x + x + x + . . . \large y=\sqrt{x+\sqrt{x+\sqrt{x+\sqrt{x+\sqrt{x+...}}}}}

Given that x x and y y are numbers that satisfy the relations given above, determine the exact value of

( ( 1 y ) 2 ( 2014 ) + x 2014 ) ( ( 1 x ) 2014 + ( y ) 2 ( 2014 ) ) \left(\left(\frac{1}{y}\right)^{2\left(2014\right)}+x^{2014}\right)\left(\left(\frac{1}{x}\right)^{2014}+\left(y\right)^{2\left(2014\right)}\right)


The answer is 4.

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3 solutions

Chew-Seong Cheong
Jun 25, 2015

x = 1 y + 1 y + 1 y + 1 . . . = 1 y + x y + x = 1 x y = 1 x x y = x + x + x + . . . = x + y y 2 = x + y = x + 1 x x = 1 x \begin{aligned} x & = \frac{1}{y+\frac{1}{y+\frac{1}{y+\frac{1}{...}}}} = \frac{1}{y + x} \quad \Rightarrow y + x = \frac{1}{x} \quad \Rightarrow \color{#3D99F6}{y = \frac{1}{x} - x} \\ y & = \sqrt{x+\sqrt{x+\sqrt{x+ ...}}} = \sqrt{x + y} \quad \Rightarrow \color{#D61F06}{y^2} = x + \color{#3D99F6}{y} = x + \color{#3D99F6}{\frac{1}{x} - x} = \color{#D61F06}{\frac{1}{x}} \end{aligned}

( 1 y 2 ( 2014 ) + x 2014 ) ( 1 x 2014 + y 2 ( 2014 ) ) = ( x 2014 + x 2014 ) ( 1 x 2014 + 1 x 2014 ) = 2 x 2014 ( 2 x 2014 ) = 4 \begin{aligned} \left( \dfrac{1}{\color{#D61F06}{y}^{\color{#D61F06}{2}(2014)}} + x^{2014} \right) \left( \dfrac{1}{x^{2014}} + \color{#D61F06}{y}^{\color{#D61F06}{2}(2014)} \right) & = \left( \color{#D61F06}{x}^{2014} + x^{2014} \right) \left( \dfrac{1}{x^{2014}} + \dfrac{1}{\color{#D61F06}{x}^{2014}} \right) \\ & = 2x^{2014} \left( \dfrac{2}{x^{2014}} \right) = \boxed{4} \end{aligned}

Moderator note:

Great solution!

On a side note, we should verify that (real) numbers x , y x, y do actually exist that satisfy the conditions.

Efren Medallo
Jun 7, 2015

We can simplify the continued fraction as

x = 1 y + x x = \large \frac {1}{y+x}

while we can reduce the nested radical to the form

y 2 = x + y y^{2} = \large x+y

combining the two equations we get that

x = 1 y 2 x = \frac {1}{y^{2}}

Now, simplifying the given expression, we get

[ ( 1 x y 2 ) 2014 + ( x y 2 ) 2014 + 2 ] \left[\left(\frac{1}{xy^2}\right)^{2014}+\left(xy^2\right)^{2014}+2\right]

Thus, substituting x y 2 = 1 xy^{2} = 1 gives us a result of 4 \boxed {4} .

Firstly, what are the exact values of x x and y y , and secondly- why have you simplified the expression asked for when it denotes the nearest integer function? n i n t ( x ) nint(x) is not distributive.

Alex Delhumeau - 6 years ago

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Nope, these brackets do not denote the nearest integer function. I might as well edit to change it to parentheses to avoid further confusion. Sorry about that.

Efren Medallo - 6 years ago

The exact value of the solution is not needed to solve the problem. Of course, it is important that at least one solution exists.

If you really really wanted to solve the system, you can substitute the equations into each other and get y 4 y 3 1 = 0 y^4 - y^3 - 1 = 0 , of which one of the roots y 1.38 y \approx 1.38 would yield a solution.

Calvin Lin Staff - 5 years, 11 months ago

it is not necessary to find those values, because there may be infinite ordered pairs that behave according to the equation/s given above.

Efren Medallo - 6 years ago

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How would one find these? W|A only finds one real ordered pair as a solution: http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=x+%3D+1%2F%28x%2By%29%3B+y+%3D+sqrt%28x%2By%29.

Alex Delhumeau - 6 years ago

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@Alex Delhumeau Treating it as a system is rather nice, but I believe that it is better and more compact to manipulate the expression in terms of the relations obtained above.

Efren Medallo - 6 years ago
Panya Chunnanonda
Jun 25, 2015

y^2= x+ y= (1/x)= K so, from given equation, ((1/y)^(2014)+ x^(2014))* ((1/x)^(2014)+ y^(2014))= ((1/K)^2014+ (1/K)^2014)* (K^2014+ K^2014) =( 2 (1/K)^2014) (2*K^2014) =4

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