Solutions Australian Mathematical Olympiad Committee

Algebra 2021 Mentor Program

A1. Consider the cubic equation x3 4x + 1 = 0.

(a) Show that the above cubic has has exactly three di↵erent real solutions.
(b) If the solutions to the above cubic are a, b, and c, find the value of
1 1 1
+ + .
a+b a+c b+c

(c) Find the value of

a4 + b 4 + c 4 .

Answers (a) – (b) 4 (c) 32

Solution

(a) Let p(x) = x3 4x + 1. Note that p(2) > 0, p(1) < 0 and p(0) > 0, p( 3) < 0. Thus by
the intermediate value theorem p has a root in each of the intervals ( 3, 0); (0, 1) and (1, 2).
Furthermore by the Fundamental Theorem of Algebra a cubic polynomial cannot have more
than 3 roots.
(b) By Vieta’s formulas, we have the following.

a+b+c=0
ab + bc + ca = 4
abc = 1

Thus
1 1 1 1 1 1 ab + ac + bc
+ + = = = 4.
a+b a+c b+c c b a abc
(c) Here is one way to systematically compute the answer.

a2 + b2 + c2 = (a + b + c)2 2(ab + bc + ca)

=8
a3 + b3 + c3 = (a + b + c)(a2 + b2 + c2 ) (a + b + c)(ab + bc + ca) + 3abc
= 3
a + b + c = (a + b + c)(a3 + b3 + c3 ) (a2 + b2 + c2 )(ab + bc + ca) + abc(a + b + c)
4 4 4

= 32 ⇤

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Solutions Australian Mathematical Olympiad Committee
Algebra 2021 Mentor Program

A2. Lucy has written down some real numbers in a row such that the sum of any three adjacent
numbers is positive and the sum of any five adjacent numbers is negative.
What is the maximum number of numbers that Lucy could have written?

Answer 6
Solution
Suppose that Lucy wrote down at least 7 numbers. Let a, b, c, d, e, f, g be seven of those numbers in
a row.
Consider the 5-tuple (a, b, c, d, e). We have that a+b+c > 0 and c+d+e > 0. Thus a+b+2c+d+e > 0.
However, a + b + c + d + e < 0. Thus c < 0.
Similar arguments on the 5-tuples (b, c, d, e, f ) and (c, d, e, f, g) show that d, e < 0.
But now c + d + e < 0, a contradiction.
The numbers 3, 5, 3, 3, 5, 3 give an example which shows that Lucy could have written down 6
numbers. ⇤

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Solutions Australian Mathematical Olympiad Committee
Algebra 2021 Mentor Program

A3. Find all functions f : R ! R such that

f (x)f (y) = f (x + y) + xy

for all x, y 2 R.
Note: The notation f : R ! R means that f (x) is defined for all real numbers x, and that f (x) is
always a real number.

Answer (i) f (x) = 1 t (ii) f (x) = 1 + t

Solution
Put x = y = 0 to find f (0)2 = f (0). So f (0) = 0 or 1.
If f (0) = 0, then put y = 0 to find f (x) = 0 for all x 2 R.
If f (0) = 1, then put (x, y) = (1, 1) to find f (1)f ( 1) = f (0) 1 = 0. Thus f (1) = 0 or f ( 1) = 0.
If f (1) = 0 put (x, y) = (1, t 1) to find f (t) = 1 t for all t 2 R.
If f ( 1) = 0 put (x, y) = ( 1, t + 1) to find f (t) = 1 + t for all t 2 R.
Thus we have three potential solutions f (t) = 0, f (t) = 1 t and f (t) = 1 + t.
It still must be checked if these solutions work. This routine and leads to discarding the first potential
solution but keeping the other two. ⇤

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Solutions Australian Mathematical Olympiad Committee
Algebra 2021 Mentor Program

A4. Let x, y, z be positive real numbers with sum 1.

Prove the following two inequalities.

(a) xy + yz + zx 9xyz
1
(b) xy + yz + zx < 4
+ 3xyz

(a) Solution 1
Observe that

xy + yz + zx = (x + y + z)(xy + yz + zx) = x2 y + xy 2 + x2 z + xz 2 + yz 2 + y 2 z + 3xyz.

Thus the given inequality is equivalent to

x2 y + xy 2 + x2 z + xz 2 + yz 2 + y 2 z 6xyz.

But this follows easily from the AM–GM.

x2 y + xy 2 + x2 z + xz 2 + yz 2 + y 2 z p
6
x6 y 6 z 6 = xyz ⇤
6
Solution 2
xy + yz + zx = (x + y + z)(xy + yz + zx)
p p
3 3 xyz · 3 3 xy · yz · zx (AM–GM)
= 9xyz ⇤

(b) Solution 1
1
Since x + y + z = 1, we may assume without loss of generality that z x, y. Thus z 3
. Then

xy + yz + zx 3xyz = z(x + y) + xy(1 3z)

= z(1 z) + xy(1 3z)
 z(1 z) (1 3z < 0)
✓ ◆2
z + (1 z)
 (AM–GM)
2
1
= . ⇤
4
Solution 2
Let E(x, y, z) = xy + yz + zx 3xyz = z(x + y) + xy(1 3z). Without loss of generality z  x, y
so that z  13 . Replacing (x, y) by (x0 , y 0 ) = ( x+y
2
, x+y
2
) we see that x0 + y 0 + z = 1, z  x0 , y 0
and E(x, y, z)  E(x0 , y 0 , z). So we can assume that x = y = 1 2 z and z  13 . In this case we
compute
(1 z)(3z 2 + 1) 3z 3 + 3z 2 z 1
E= = + .
4 4 4
It suffices to show that 3z 3 + 3z 2 z < 0 which is the same as 3z 2 3z + 1 > 0. But this is
true because 3z 2 3z + 1 is a positive quadratic with negative discriminant. ⇤

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Solutions Australian Mathematical Olympiad Committee
Algebra 2021 Mentor Program

A5. Find all positive integers n for which there exists a real number x such that

bxc + b2xc + · · · + bnxc = n.

Note: For any real number x, the number bxc denotes the greatest integer not exceeding x.

Answer All n ⌘ 0, 1 (mod 3)

Solution
Experiments suggest that the answer is all n of form 3t or 3t + 1.
Case 1 n = 3t
1
Set x = t
" where " > 0 and we will let " ! 0, then

LHS = btxc + b(t + 1)xc + · · · + b2txc + b(2t + 1)xc + · · · + b3txc

= 0 + 1 + ··· + 1 + 2 + ··· + 2
= t + 2t
= n.

Case 2 n = 3t + 1
1
Set x = t+1
, then

LHS = b(t + 1)xc + · · · + b2txc + b(2t + 1)xc + b(2t + 2)xc + · · · + b(3t + 1)xc
= 1 + ··· + 1 + 1 + 2 + ··· + 2
= (t + 1) + 2t
= n.

Case 3 n = 3t + 2
1
If x t+1
, then

LHS b(t + 1)xc + · · · + b(2t + 1)xc + b(2t + 2)xc + · · · + b(3t + 2)xc

1 + ··· + 1 + 2 + ··· + 2
= (t + 1) + 2(t + 1)
> n.
1
If x < t+1
, then

LHS  b(t + 2)xc + · · · + b(2t + 2)xc + b(2t + 3)xc + · · · + b(3t + 2)xc

 1 + ··· + 1 + 2 + ··· + 2
= (t + 1) + 2t
< n.

So for n = 3t + 2, there are no solutions. ⇤

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Solutions Australian Mathematical Olympiad Committee
Algebra 2021 Mentor Program

A6. Let N0 denote the set of non-negative integers. Find all functions f : N0 ! N0 such that

f (a2 b2 ) = f (a)2 f (b)2

for all non-negative integers a b.

Note: The notation f : N0 ! N0 means that f (x) is defined for all non-negative integers x, and that
f (x) is always a non-negative integer.

Answer (i) f (x) = 0 (ii) f (x) = x

Solution
Since f (x) 0, we have f (a)2 f (b)2 = f (a2 b2 ) 0 for a b. Thus f (a) f (b) for a b, that
is, f is (weakly) increasing.
Set a = b to find f (0) = 0.
Set b = 0 to find f (a2 ) = f (a)2 .
Thus f (1) = f (1)2 . Thus f (1) = 0 or 1.
Case 1 f (1) = 0
We have f (4) = f (2)2 = f (2)2 f (1)2 = f (3). Thus f (7) = f (4)2 f (3)2 = 0. Then by induction
n
on f (x2 ) = f (x)2 we have f (72 ) = 0. Since f is increasing it follows that f (m) = 0 for all m 2 N0 .
It is trivial to see that this is a valid solution.
Case 2 f (1) = 1
Let f (2) = x. Then f (4) = x2 , f (3) = x2 1, f (5) = f (3)2 f (2)2 = x4 3x2 + 1. Then

x4 = f (2)4 = f (16) = f (5)2 f (3)2 = (x4 3x2 + 1)2 (x2 1)2 .

This factors as
x2 (x2 1)2 (x2 4) = 0.
However, if a > b, then f (a)2 f (b)2 = f (a2 b2 ) f (1) > 0. Thus f is strictly increasing. Thus
x = f (2) 2. Hence f (2) = 2.
n n
Next by induction on f (x2 ) = f (x)2 we have f (22 ) = 22 . However since f is strictly increasing this
means that f (m) = m for all m 2 N0 . It is trivial to see that this is a valid solution. ⇤

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