#proof
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not sure how to start
i know that x, y, and z have to hav edifferent signs
they cant all be positive or all be negative
has to be some mix of + and -
i tried combining the fractions and cross multiplying but i dont see ideas
Hm... Well, we can try multiplying everything by xyz(x + y + z):
(x + y + z)(xy + yz + xz) = xyz
x^2 y + xy^2 + y^2 z + yz^2 + x^2 z + xz^2 + 2xyz = 0
Maybe we can try treating, say, z as a parameter, and bring the resulting quadratic polynomial in x, y to the canonical form?
Ah, wait, no.
It isn't quadratic in x and y.
Then I don't know.
It's quadratic in z. We can solve for z in terms of x and y with the quadratic formula.
Oh. In that case, we can just, say, solve for z. It is quadratic in just z, after all.
Yeah, right!
Oh, wait a minute. Doesn't it kinda look like ||(x + y)(y + z)(z + x) = 0||?
And at that point we can simplify things by checking if the discriminant is a perfect square.
||I don't know, but looking at the original equation we definitely do get solutions of that type.||
So you just want to prove whether it's possible for the equation to be true, right?
In which case you don't need all solutions, just a solution.
Or a proof of no solutions.
But a solution is sufficient to prove that a solution exists.
Now that we know we only need one solution to prove solutions exist, we can actually find one just by looking at the original equation and thinking about it a bit. For instance, 1/x = 1/x, trivially, right?
sorry should be z^2 (x+y) + z(x^2+2xy+y^2) + (x^2 y + y^2 x)
but x^2 + 2xy + y^2 is (x+y)^2
so z^2 (x+y) + z(x+y)^2 + (x^2 y + y^2 x)
x^2 y + y^2 x is xy(x+y)
im getting z = -y, or z = -x
Yeah, that's correct.
o
1/x + 1/y + 1/z = 1/(x+y+z)
if z is -y
its just 1/x = 1/x
if z is -x
its 1/y = 1/y
x+z=0
y+z =0
if i want to find the number of solutions
Remember that you can't have any of the variables or their sum equal to 0.
oh right
sum of 2 can be 0 right
just not 3
or else 1/(x+y+z) is undefined
Yup.
for x+z=0
there should be solutions
20 *
and for each of those solutions
y is from -10 to 10 but not 0
so for each of those solutions there are 20 possible y's
so 400
wait
I don't think there are that many. Some may be double-counted.
oh
this is the whole question btw
just had to prove this earlier part to work toward a solution for the problem
if z = -y
1/x = 1/w
then for our solution
if we make w be x since they will be the same number anyway
x,y,-y,x
think we can just ignore the x at the end since it will not matter since its the same as the first x
x,y,-y
-y depends on y
it will always be the - of y
x,y
if x has 20 and y has 20 then there are 400.. like
wait
yea..
Okay, see, this question you do have to do all the work for.
Because you don't necessarily only get solutions when two of the terms cancel.
but from our quadratic didnt we prove we can only get solutions when z = -x,-y (so two terms cancel)?
I don't know, because I wasn't paying much attention to that once I noticed that obvious solution, because you asked us to prove whether solutions existed, so I discarded information not relevant to that.
Next time, ask the question you're actually trying to answer.
okay
