Maths Olympiad Prep

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Problem 861

AIME late
Algebra Difficulty 5.5 Find the answer

The solution set of the equation 2x+2−22x+1+2x+10−62x+1=2\sqrt{2 x+2-2 \sqrt{2 x+1}}+\sqrt{2 x+10-6 \sqrt{2 x+1}}=2 is

A number or a short expression. Fractions can be typed as 3/2, and spacing doesn't matter.

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Official solution

2. [0,4][0,4].
(Method 1) It is easy to see that
2x+2−22x+1+2x+10−62x+1=(2x+1)2−22x+1+12+(2x+1)2−62x+1+32=∣2x+1−1∣+∣2x+1−3∣⩾2, \begin{array}{l} \sqrt{2 x+2-2 \sqrt{2 x+1}}+\sqrt{2 x+10-6 \sqrt{2 x+1}} \\ =\sqrt{(\sqrt{2 x+1})^{2}-2 \sqrt{2 x+1}+1^{2}}+\sqrt{(\sqrt{2 x+1})^{2}-6 \sqrt{2 x+1}+3^{2}} \\ =|\sqrt{2 x+1}-1|+|\sqrt{2 x+1}-3| \\ \geqslant 2, \end{array}

where the equality holds if and only if 1⩽2x+1⩽31 \leqslant \sqrt{2 x+1} \leqslant 3, i.e., x∈[0,4]x \in[0,4].
(Method 2) According to the problem, we can set
2x+2−22x+1=1−d,2x+10−62x+1=1+d, \begin{array}{c} \sqrt{2 x+2-2 \sqrt{2 x+1}}=1-d, \\ \sqrt{2 x+10-6 \sqrt{2 x+1}}=1+d, \end{array}

From
{1−d⩾01+d⩾0 \left\{\begin{array}{l} 1-d \geqslant 0 \\ 1+d \geqslant 0 \end{array}\right.

we get −1⩽d⩽1-1 \leqslant d \leqslant 1. By (2)2−(1)2(2)^{2}-(1)^{2}, we get
2x+1=2−d, \sqrt{2 x+1}=2-d,

Substituting into equations (1) and (2), we get
{1+(2−d)2+2(2−d)=1−d,9+(2−d)2+6(2−d)=1+d \left\{\begin{array}{l} \sqrt{1+(2-d)^{2}+2(2-d)}=1-d, \\ \sqrt{9+(2-d)^{2}+6(2-d)}=1+d \end{array}\right.

which holds for all −1⩽d⩽1-1 \leqslant d \leqslant 1.
Therefore, the original equation holds as long as 2x+1=2−d∈[1,3]\sqrt{2 x+1}=2-d \in[1,3], i.e., x∈[0,4]x \in[0,4].

Source: NuminaMath-1.5, licensed Apache-2.0. Statement reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty, ordering) added by this project.