Maths Olympiad Prep

Track / Stage 5 / 213 of 400 #813 of 1964

Problem 813

AIME late
Algebra Difficulty 5.3 Find the answer

Solve the inequality

log⁡0.5(log⁡6x2+xx+4)<0 \log _{0.5}\left(\log _{6} \frac{x^{2}+x}{x+4}\right)<0

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

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Official solution

Solution. Since the base of the logarithm is less than one, the given inequality is equivalent to the inequality

log⁡6x2+xx+4>1 \log _{6} \frac{x^{2}+x}{x+4}>1

which, considering that the base of the logarithm is greater than one, is equivalent to the inequality

x2+xx+4>6 \frac{x^{2}+x}{x+4}>6

i.e., the inequality

x2+xx+4−6>0⇔x2−5x−24x+4>0 \frac{x^{2}+x}{x+4}-6>0 \Leftrightarrow \frac{x^{2}-5 x-24}{x+4}>0

Since x2−5x−24=(x+3)(x−8)x^{2}-5 x-24=(x+3)(x-8), solving the inequality

(x+3)(x−8)x+4>0 \frac{(x+3)(x-8)}{x+4}>0

by the method of intervals, we find that the set of all its solutions, and thus of the original inequality, is the intervals −4<x<−3-4<x<-3 and 8<x<+∞8<x<+\infty.

Solving an inequality of the form

f(log⁡ax)⩾0 f\left(\log _{a} x\right) \geqslant 0

where ff is some function, by the substitution t=log⁡axt=\log _{a} x reduces to solving the inequality f(t)⩾0f(t) \geqslant 0 and then solving the corresponding simple logarithmic inequalities.

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