So so long

Algebra Level 2

How many real numbers x x satisfy the following equation:

x 9 + 18 x 6 + 108 x 3 + 222 = x 6 3 x^{9}+18x^{6}+108x^{3}+222=\sqrt[3]{x-6}


The answer is 1.

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1 solution

Chew-Seong Cheong
Nov 20, 2017

Let the LHS and RHS be f 1 ( x ) f_1(x) and f 2 ( x ) f_2(x) respectively. Then,

f 1 ( x ) = x 9 + 18 x 6 + 108 x 3 + 222 d f 1 d x = 9 x 8 + 108 x 5 + 324 x 2 = 9 x 2 ( x 3 + 6 ) 2 0 x \begin{aligned} f_1(x) & = x^9 + 18x^6 + 108x^3 + 222 \\ \frac {df_1}{dx} & = 9x^8 + 108x^5 + 324x^2 = 9x^2(x^3+6)^2 \ge 0 \ \forall x \end{aligned}

Therefore, the LHS f 1 ( x ) f_1(x) is a non-decreasing function for all x x .

Similarly, f 2 ( x ) = x 6 3 f_2(x) = \sqrt[3]{x-6} d f 2 d x = 1 ( x 6 3 ) 2 0 x \implies \dfrac {df_2}{dx} = \dfrac 1{(\sqrt[3]{x-6})^2} \ge 0 \ \forall x . Again, f 2 ( x ) f_2(x) is a non-decreasing function for all x x .

Hence, there is only 1 \boxed{1} solution for f 1 ( x ) = f 2 ( x ) f_1(x) = f_2(x) and the solution is x = 2 x=-2 .

But how do u know about -2??

A Former Brilliant Member - 3 years, 6 months ago

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I actually plotted the graph.

Chew-Seong Cheong - 3 years, 6 months ago

This reasoning is not adequate. Two functions that are non-decreasing could intersect many times. Happy holidays by the way.

James Wilson - 3 years, 5 months ago

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