Mtptopics 2

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Round Two

The first section of the Round Two Mandelbrot Team Play is reproduced below. A list of topics
and practice problems are also provided to aid in preparation. Note that these problems are not
meant to serve as a precise indicator of the problems that will appear on the contest. However,
students who understand how to solve them should be able to make significantly more progress
than they might have otherwise. So work hard on the problems, and good luck on the Team Play!
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Facts: Vieta’s formulas provide a means of computing symmetric expressions involving the
roots of a polynomial. More precisely, the polynomial c0 xn +c1 xn−1 +c2 xn−2 +· · ·+cn−1 x+cn
has n roots. According to Vieta’s formulas, the sum of these roots is −c1 /c0 , the sum of
products of pairs of distinct roots is c2 /c0 , and the product of the roots is (−1)n cn /c0 .
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Topics: Vieta’s formulas, graphs of rational functions, inequalities

Practice Problems
3(x − 1) 2(x − 1)
1. Find the equations of all asymptotes for the graph of y = + .
(x + 1)(x − 2) (x − 2)(x − 4)
2. In the remaining problems let a1 , a2 , . . . , an be the n solutions to the equation

4(x − 1)(x − 2) · · · (x − n) = 1,

listed in increasing order, where n is a positive integer. To begin, draw a reasonable graph of the
left-hand side of this equation.
3. Explain why we expect all solutions of this equation to be real numbers.
4. Compute the value of this expression in terms of n.
1 1 1
+ + ··· +
a2 a3 · · · an a1 a3 · · · an a1 a2 · · · an−1

5. Suppose that n is even. What is the relationship between ak and an−k ?


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6. Now let n be odd. Demonstrate that a1 > 1 + .
4(n − 1)!

Hints and answers on the next page. =⇒


Hints and Answers

1. This is a devious problem. Upon combining the two fractions (or better yet, splitting them up
via partial fractions) one discovers that the factor of (x − 2) in the denominator cancels. Hence
there are three asymptotes: two vertical at x = −1 and x = 4, and one horizontal at y = 0.
2. Your graph should hit the x-axis at x = 1, 2, . . . , n. It will go to positive infinity on both sides
for n even, but will go to negative infinity on the left when n is odd. Finally, the heights of the
“humps” will be larger near x = 1 and x = n and smaller near the middle.
3. If we can show that the height of every hump is at least 1, then the claim will follow. (Examine
the graph and handle the cases of n even or odd separately.) Imagine plugging in x = k + 21 for
some positive integer k. Then at most two factors will equal 12 , while the rest will all be larger
than 1. Multiplying by 4 ensures that the entire product is at least 1.
4. We rewrite the sum as (a1 + a2 + · · · + an )/(a1 a2 · · · an ). By Vieta’s formulas we may determine
the value of the numerator and denominator separately:

−4 − 8 − · · · − 4n n(n + 1) 4n! − (−1)n


a1 + a2 + · · · + an = − = , a1 a2 · · · an = .
4 2 4
2n(n + 1)
Therefore the desired expression is .
4n! − (−1)n
5. One should verify that if a is a solution to the equation, then so is (n + 1) − a. One must then
confirm that the solutions pair up in the appropriate manner; i.e. that (n + 1) − ak really is an−k .
We can then conclude that ak + an−k = n + 1.
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6. For the sake of convenience, write  = 4(n−1)! . Substituting x = 1 +  into the left-hand side of
the equation and negating all but one of the factors (an even number of them) yields

4()(1 − )(2 − ) · · · ((n − 1) − ).

This product is just slightly less than

4()(1)(2) · · · (n − 1) = 4(n − 1)! = 1.

In other words, at x = 1 +  the graph of the function is positive but less than 1, meaning that we
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have not quite reached the first solution a1 . Therefore a1 > 1 + 4(n−1)! .

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