Thursday, September 22, 2016

algebra precalculus - Is it possible to shorten the solution for this 2014 RMO question?


I was solving a question from the Regional Math Olympiad (RMO) 2014.



Find all positive real numbers x,y,z such that



2x2y+1z=12014,2y2z+1x=12014,2z2x+1y=12014




Here's my solution:


These expressions are cyclic. Therefore all solution sets must be unordered. This implies that x=y=z.


Thus, x=2014 and the solution is


x=2014y=2014z=2014



Here's the official solution:


Adding the three equations, we get 1x+1y+1z=32014


We can also write them as 2xz2yz+1=z2014,2xy2xz+1=x2014,2yz2xy+1=y2014


Adding these, we get x+y+z=3×2014



Therefore, (1x+1y+1z)(x+y+z)=9


Using AM-GM inequality, we therefore obtain 9=(1x+1y+1z)(x+y+z)9×(xyz)13(1xyz)13=9


Hence equality holds and we conclude that x=y=z.


Thus we conclude x=2014y=2014z=2014



What I wonder is if there is something wrong with my approach. If yes, what is it? If no, then why is the official solution so long winded?


Answer



Consider the system of equations


xy+z=1,yz+x=1,zx+y=1


These equations are related by cyclic permutations of (x,y,z), but they are satisified by (1,1,0) (and its cyclic permutations) when x, y and z are not all equal.


There are also solutions where x=y=z=±512, but these are not the only solutions.



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