Solution to Sum of Fractions Equation

Algebra Level 2

Find the positive integer x x such that

1 10 x = 1 x 2 + x + 1 x 2 + 3 x + 2 + 1 x 2 + 5 x + 6 . \dfrac1{10x} =\dfrac1{x^2+x}+ \dfrac1{x^2+3x+2}+ \dfrac1{x^2+5x+6} .


The answer is 27.

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1 solution

David Altizio
Jul 31, 2014

Note that the RHS of the equation can be rewritten as 1 x ( x + 1 ) + 1 ( x + 1 ) ( x + 2 ) + 1 ( x + 2 ) ( x + 3 ) = ( 1 x 1 x + 1 ) + ( 1 x + 1 1 x + 2 ) + ( 1 x + 2 1 x + 3 ) = 1 x 1 x + 3 = 3 x ( x + 3 ) . \begin{aligned}&\,\,\,\,\,\,\dfrac1{x(x+1)}+\dfrac1{(x+1)(x+2)}+\dfrac1{(x+2)(x+3)}\\&=\left(\dfrac1x-\dfrac1{x+1}\right)+\left(\dfrac1{x+1}-\dfrac1{x+2}\right)+\left(\dfrac1{x+2}-\dfrac1{x+3}\right)\\&=\dfrac1x-\dfrac1{x+3}=\dfrac3{x(x+3)}.\end{aligned} Hence 1 10 x = 3 x ( x + 3 ) x + 3 = 30 x = 27 . \dfrac1{10x}=\dfrac3{x(x+3)}\implies x+3=30\implies x=\boxed{27}. (We can multiply out the x x from both denominators since it is clear that x = 0 x=0 makes both sides undefined.)

Damn, forgot to divide by x!

William Isoroku - 6 years, 10 months ago

excellent...!!

James Kumar - 6 years, 4 months ago

nice, solved in the same way : }

PUSHPESH KUMAR - 6 years, 10 months ago

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