Find (x+y+z) [Harvard-MIT] Guts contest

แชร์
ฝัง
  • เผยแพร่เมื่อ 31 ม.ค. 2025
  • This problem is from the HMMT mathematics contest. It took me several days to figure this one out.

ความคิดเห็น • 90

  • @Modo942000
    @Modo942000 6 หลายเดือนก่อน +63

    This is honestly such a beautiful solution that shows how areas of maths are all connected at the end of the day.

    • @childrenofkoris
      @childrenofkoris 5 หลายเดือนก่อน

      i was under the impression that it would be solved bu traditional algebra or equation

  • @loxuty123
    @loxuty123 6 หลายเดือนก่อน +33

    You're my favourite youtube math teacher

  • @quzpolkas
    @quzpolkas 6 หลายเดือนก่อน +52

    I found another method for this, however I like yours more because it's more elegant :)
    First off, we can easily check that x, y, z must be all distinct numbers to satisfy the system (for example, from x=y follows x^2 = y^2 = 1/3, which leads to contradictions in equations 2 and 3 of out system, similar for y=z and z=x). Because of that, we can multiply both sides of equations 1, 2, 3 by (x-y), (y-z), (z-x) respectively (none of the brackets can be zero), use the cube difference formula, and add the 3 resulting equations together.
    The left side sums to zero, the right side sums to -4x + 3y + z, which gives us a new relation for x,y,z:
    z = 4x - 3y (mark it as equation 4).
    Then I noticed that original equations 1 and 2 can be summed, and the resulting right side sums to 5, which is the right side of equation 3. Why not equate them?
    After doing that and replacing z with 4x - 3y from equation 4, we get a second-order equation for x and y:
    4x^2 - 8xy + y^2 = 0 (mark it as 5).
    None of the x,y,z can be zero (easy to check), so we can divide both sides by y^2, substitute x/y = t, use the quadratic formula and find two values for t:
    t = x/y = 1 + rad(3)/2, OR t = x/y = 1 - rad(3)/2 (rad(x) meaning square root of x).
    After that follows some gruelling algebra with radicals which I'm not gonna write here cuz this comment is already too long :P
    All that's left to do is substitute x = (1 + rad(3)/2)y into 4, get a formula for z in terms of y, substitute them both into, for example, original equation 1, and get the values of y, then find our needed sum x+ y + z = rad(5+2*rad(3)).
    However, I couldn't find a reason to discard the other root of equation 5: x/y = 1 - rad(3)/2 , which yields a different value for the sum: x+y+z = rad(5-2*rad(3)). They are both positive.
    Could this be a second possible value for answer, or did I miss something?
    Cheers!

    • @StaR-uw3dc
      @StaR-uw3dc 6 หลายเดือนก่อน +10

      Nice approach.
      We can get relation z=4x-3y also by subtracting equations in pairs:
      (2)-(1): (z-x)(x+y+z)=3 lets call it as (2_1)
      (3)-(2): (x-y)(x+y+z)=1 lets call it as (3_2)
      Comparing (x+y+z) from both above equations we get 3/(z-x)=1/(x-y) hence z=4x-3y
      From equation (3_2) we can notice that (x-y) should be positive (as x+y+z and 1 is positive) hence x>y and x/y>1.
      For this reason we should reject one solution for t=x/y=1-√3/2 as it is less than 1.

    • @quzpolkas
      @quzpolkas 6 หลายเดือนก่อน +8

      @@StaR-uw3dc Yes, brilliant! I completely forgot that z>x>y, which I believe was mentioned in the video. Your argument brings some more clarity as to why that is though, in my opinion.
      I also didn't catch that for t = 1 - rad(3)/2 we get z = (1-2rad(3))y, which means y and z can't both be positive (since 1 - 2rad(3) in negative).
      Therefore the second value for t must be discarded. Thank you for the correction! 👍

    • @Nothingx303
      @Nothingx303 6 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

      I was thinking 🤔 that good 👍 but the solution in the video is more juicy 😉 😊

    • @Comedy_boy_30
      @Comedy_boy_30 3 หลายเดือนก่อน

      Really appreciable 😊😊

  • @joseluishablutzelaceijas928
    @joseluishablutzelaceijas928 6 หลายเดือนก่อน +11

    That is a very beautiful solution, the decisive step was recognizing the cosine rule.

  • @anthonysnell4832
    @anthonysnell4832 6 หลายเดือนก่อน +8

    This is an excellent example of how maths is so beautiful.

  • @hacerkayal1740
    @hacerkayal1740 6 หลายเดือนก่อน +3

    Sir, I love how you explain mathematics to us in such beautiful ways, I'm glad to have you. ❤

  • @Jeremy-i1d
    @Jeremy-i1d 6 หลายเดือนก่อน +5

    Thank you for another wonderful video.
    Your solution is beautiful and it's hard to imagine another which could be as elegant. I love your focus on structure and ability to stand back to recognise familiar forms - like you did also in the video where you used the formula for tan (3 theta).
    I eventually managed to solve the problem by a brute force method but it was cumbersome.
    My approach was as follows:
    1) Solve equation 1 as a quadratic in y to give y in terms of x, and similarly equation 3 as a quadratic in z to give z in terms of x
    2) Add these to x to obtain R = x+y+z = 1/2*(R1+R2) where R1 = root(4-3x^2) and R2 = root (20-3x^2)
    3) Calculate y^2, z^2 and yz from the expressions in 1) and sub them into equation 2 to obtain the equation R1R2 = -8 + 3x^2 + 6xR
    4) Square the equation in 2) to obtain the second equation R1R2 = -12 + 3x^2 + 2R^2
    5) Solve these two equations simultaneously to get x in terms of R as: x =(R^2-2)/3R
    6) Square the equation in 3), subbing for R1^2 and R2^2 in terms of x, to obtain the cubic equation in x: 9Rx^3 + (6+9R^2)x^2-24Rx -4 = 0
    7) Sub for x from 5) into this equation to obtain an equation in R only as: R^6-40R^4+52R^2=0
    8) Factorise out R^2 (which cannot be 0) and complete the square on the other factor to obtain (R^2-5)^2 - 12 = 0, from which it follows that R = root (5+2root3), as you found. (positive square root must be taken at both R^2 and R stages because R^2 > 5 from the start of your solution and R>0.)
    Again, thank you for your lovely and blessed videos ❤

  • @BartBuzz
    @BartBuzz 6 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

    What an elegant solution. Math is so satisfying when we know how to apply the principles!

  • @RomanOrekhov
    @RomanOrekhov 6 หลายเดือนก่อน +6

    This geometric solution is much more beautiful than any algebraic for this problem I could come up with! Algebraic have intricacies about the second possible solution (sqrt(5-2*sqrt(3)) while in geometric this value just doesn't come up as line segments have positive length

  • @ΑπόστολοςΠαπαοικονόμου-ν2θ
    @ΑπόστολοςΠαπαοικονόμου-ν2θ 3 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    Very nice combination of algebra, geometry and trigonometry. Well done!

  • @kinshuksinghania4289
    @kinshuksinghania4289 6 หลายเดือนก่อน +16

    Finding connections between two seemingly unrelated things!! That’s the beauty of mathematics

  • @hacerkayal1740
    @hacerkayal1740 6 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

    Sir, The question is awesome but your solution is more perfect than the question❤ thank you for your teaching❤

  • @ion5964
    @ion5964 6 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

    You can never unsee the geometry in this problem, but I would never have guessed it

  • @ScreamAnonyme
    @ScreamAnonyme 5 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    The solution is poetic ! I think that the person who composed this problem had derived it from a right triangle ABC (AB=1; AC= 2 and BC = rad 5) and a point O inside the triangle is positioned in such a way so that OA, OB and OC are equal to x, y and z and angles AOB=BOC=AOC= 120 degrees

  • @ajhsajxhjzxj
    @ajhsajxhjzxj 4 หลายเดือนก่อน

    watching you all night make me fallin in love with math again❤

  • @shmuelzehavi4940
    @shmuelzehavi4940 5 หลายเดือนก่อน +8

    Nice solution and explication !
    I'll present a different (purely algebraic) approach:
    The original system of equations is:
    x^2+y^2+xy=1 (1)
    y^2+z^2+yz=4 (2)
    z^2+x^2+zx=5 (3)
    The goal is to evaluate: x+y+z , for x,y,z > 0
    By subtracting eq. (2) from (3) we obtain:
    x^2-y^2+z(x-y)=1
    Or:
    (x+y+z)(x-y)=1 (4)
    Similarly, by subtracting eq. (3) from (1) and (1) from (2) we obtain:
    (x+y+z)(y-z)=-4 (5)
    (x+y+z)(z-x)=3 (6)
    We denote: u=x+y+z and thus obtain:
    x-y=1/u ,y-z=-4/u ,z-x=3/u (7)
    By squaring these equations and adding the results we obtain:
    2(x^2+y^2+z^2 )-2(xy+yz+zx)=26/u^2 (8)
    By adding eq. (1), (2), (3) we get:
    2(x^2+y^2+z^2 )+(xy+yz+zx)=10 (9)
    By multiplying eq. (9) by 2, subtracting eq. (8) and dividing by 2 we get:
    (x+y+z)^2=10-13/u^2 , or: u^2=10-13/u^2 , which becomes:
    u^4-10u^2+13=0 (10)
    This is a quadratic equation in terms of u^2. The solution gives:
    u^2=5+2k√3 , (k=±1) (11)
    For x,y,z > 0 we must take the positive square root, which gives:
    u=√(5+2k√3) (12)
    By substituting expressions (11) and (12) in (7) , it's easy to show that the condition: x,y,z > 0 is satisfied only by k=1. Therefore, the single answer to this problem is: x+y+z=√(5+2√3)
    Remark:
    Without restricting to solutions which satisfy the condition: x,y,z > 0 , we have 4 distinct solutions, given by: : x+y+z=l√(5+2k√3) ,(k=±1,l=±1).

  • @Ashleyleonard777
    @Ashleyleonard777 4 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Awesomely done. A great show of a combination of algebra, geometry and trigonometry thinking solution. ❤

  • @joaocarvalho5832
    @joaocarvalho5832 6 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Is just a beauty, the way how the resolution was done!

  • @annacerbara4257
    @annacerbara4257 6 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    This is just a possible starting point:
    multiplying the first equation by (x-y), the second by (y-z), the third by (z-x) and adding the three equations found we obtain a linear equation in x,y,z which gives
    z=4x-3y
    and which allows you to eliminate z.

  • @childrenofkoris
    @childrenofkoris 5 หลายเดือนก่อน

    YOU ARE MY FAVOURITE TEACHER

  • @clemensetz
    @clemensetz 5 หลายเดือนก่อน

    What a fantastic channel!

  • @kinshuksinghania4289
    @kinshuksinghania4289 6 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    The beauty of mathematics!!

  • @Dr_piFrog
    @Dr_piFrog 4 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    You have an exciting and pleasing teaching method, not like other videos with a bit of Condescension.

  • @BurningShipFractal
    @BurningShipFractal 6 หลายเดือนก่อน +3

    I didn’t expect there would be geometry to solve the problem

  • @epsilonxyzt
    @epsilonxyzt 3 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Never Stop Teaching!

  • @rui_santos
    @rui_santos 6 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

    Beautiful problem. Greetings from Portugal.

  • @rakeshsrivastava1122
    @rakeshsrivastava1122 6 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

    Geometry solving algebra! Great synergy in math.

  • @panyachunnanonda6274
    @panyachunnanonda6274 หลายเดือนก่อน

    I love this VDO clip .

  • @panagiotisvlachos6114
    @panagiotisvlachos6114 6 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Three boards filled with the solution: That's why, I love Mathematics!! Greetings from Greece!!

  • @andrasferencz7948
    @andrasferencz7948 4 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Brilliant! Just brilliant!

  • @reniervanrooyen3417
    @reniervanrooyen3417 6 หลายเดือนก่อน

    hes name is "the chmistry teacher" he used the gauss method to solve for this type of question, he first lugged the initial equations into matrix form, where he then manipulated it to the point some variables = 0 then was able to answer the question, cause this is almost like big simultaneous equation

  • @avinashpokhriyal3657
    @avinashpokhriyal3657 6 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    One elegant solution is also there. I have solved it without using any cosine function. Simply Algebra..!

  • @xyz9250
    @xyz9250 6 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Don’t have access to pen and paper atm, but I think may able to make use of the formula x^3 - y^3 = (x-y)(x^2 + xy + y^2) = (x-y) * 1, do this for the other two combinations, and add the three resulting equations, LHS will be 0, and RHS be first degree. Still additional work to get the final solution

  • @dougaugustine4075
    @dougaugustine4075 6 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

    Wow (again)!!! The trig formulas are so easy to treat lightly, but dang, it's really amazing how you are able to see their application in a problem. This isn't the first time I've seen you do this.

  • @Ranoake
    @Ranoake 4 หลายเดือนก่อน

    It would help to know the explicit domain of x, y, and z, not just positive, positive reals? positive integers? You get different solutions depending on that answer. I assumed integers and got x + y + z = 1, but back substitution shows no solution.

  • @makehimobsessedwithyou6412
    @makehimobsessedwithyou6412 6 หลายเดือนก่อน

    you are so clever!

  • @Abby-hi4sf
    @Abby-hi4sf 6 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Wonderful!

  • @denniskisule8131
    @denniskisule8131 หลายเดือนก่อน

    I'm am not getting well the justification for why you considered the cosine rule in the solution and I would seek any alternative use of facts
    X^2+cos x =2024, can still X be found by iteration here?The sense of even function may come to mind fast 😮

  • @رياضياتللمرحلةالمتوسطة
    @رياضياتللمرحلةالمتوسطة 19 วันที่ผ่านมา

    14:45 why is it equal one
    Excuse me I cannot understand it

  • @arampak
    @arampak 6 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    I think there is a typo in the thumbnail: y instead of x in the last line.

  • @American_Language
    @American_Language 11 วันที่ผ่านมา

    7:10 I said (a+b)^2 😅

  • @Grecks75
    @Grecks75 6 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

    I solved the system algebraically and finally arrived at explicit formulas for all of x, y, z, and their sum s:=x+y+z. I found four different solutions of the system and also 4 different answers s to the problem corresponding to those 4 solutions. That means, you missed three of the four solutions!
    Here is a complete list: Let w denote the positive, real root of 3*w^2 - 4 = 0.
    1) x1 = (1+w)/√(5+3w), y1 = w/√(5+3w), z1 = (4+w)/√(5+3w), s1 = +√(5+3w)
    2) x2 = -(1+w)/√(5+3w), y2 = -w/√(5+3w), z2 = -(4+w)/√(5+3w), s2 = -√(5+3w)
    3) x3 = (1-w)/√(5-3w), y3 = -w/√(5-3w), z3 = (4-w)/√(5-3w), s3 = +√(5-3w)
    4) x4 = -(1-w)/√(5-3w), y4 = w/√(5-3w), z4 = -(4-w)/√(5-3w), s4 = -√(5-3w)
    This is just the complete solution of the problem. You can check them by "simply" plugging in those values in the original equation system.
    Getting there was rather elaborate and ugly, you don't wanna know. 😂

    • @Grecks75
      @Grecks75 6 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

      Oh, I just saw we were only supposed to find solutions for *positive* x, y, z; I solved it without that restriction, nevermind. When we restrict x, y, z to positive values, then I think only one solution (no. 1 above) remains.

    • @Grecks75
      @Grecks75 6 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

      Here is a sketch of what I did to get those solutions:
      A) Since we're mainly interested in s=x+y+z, let's first introduce s into equations (2) and (3) and exchange it for z (i.e. eliminate z). We then get:
      (4) s^2 - 2xs - ys = 3
      (5) s^2 - xs - 2ys = 4
      (B) Subtract (4) from (5) to get:
      (6) xs - ys = 1
      (C) Combine (4) and (5) again to eliminate either xs or ys and express s^2 in terms of the other:
      (7) s^2 = 2 + 3xs = 5 + 3ys
      (D) Multiply (1) with s^2 and eliminate either xs or ys using (6) and get:
      (8) s^2 = 3(xs)^2 - 3(xs) + 1 = 3(ys)^2 + 3(ys) + 1
      (E) Combine (7) and (8) to eliminate s^2 and determine w^2 := (ys)^2:
      (9) 3(ys)^2 = 4
      (F) Now we're nearly done. Determine s^2 from the two possible ys=+/-w using (7). Take the square root out of s^2 to arrive at the four possible values of s.
      (G) If you want you can now also calculate x and y from xs, ys, and s. Subtract x+y from s to get z.
      All in all this is much more elegant than I said at first. 😄

  • @sergiosereno1489
    @sergiosereno1489 6 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Amazing!

  • @soilsurvivor
    @soilsurvivor 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Nice!

  • @khetamrout4849
    @khetamrout4849 6 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    Yay another math problem

  • @pinoes31416
    @pinoes31416 3 หลายเดือนก่อน

    (x+y+z)^2 = (x^2+y^2+z^2) + 2(xy+yz+zx)
    let
    C=(x+y+z)
    A=(x^2+y^2+z^2)
    B=(xy+yz+zx)
    Adding the 3 equations we get
    2A+B=10 so A=5-B/2
    C = sqrt(A+2B)=sqrt(5+(3/2)B)
    ... this is what you did. sorry. I will give it a try

  • @williamspostoronnim9845
    @williamspostoronnim9845 6 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Очень красивое и непростое решение. А у меня симплекс-методом по Нелдеру-Миду получилось Х=0.8270349, Y=0.2843326, Z=1.842614, а сумма = 2.95398. Немного отличается от sqr((5+2*sqr(3))=2.90931. Однако в чем дело, не пойму.

  • @tessfra7695
    @tessfra7695 6 หลายเดือนก่อน

    I'm sorry if this is a silly question, but at ~ 12.50 when sir said the longest side of triangle PQR is 2, I got confused...isn't the longest side sqrt 5 ?

    • @javadkhusro
      @javadkhusro 6 หลายเดือนก่อน

      He was pointing at sqrt 5 when he said longest, so that is the hypotenuse, so 1 and 2 are the base and height to get the area.

  • @mrl9418
    @mrl9418 6 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Bravo

  • @Comedy_boy_30
    @Comedy_boy_30 4 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Can anyone suggest me a cool algebric soln to this question.

  • @justliberty4072
    @justliberty4072 5 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Third equation on the initial screen is wrong (y^2 instead of x^2).

  • @rajeshsaha6734
    @rajeshsaha6734 3 หลายเดือนก่อน

    I have discovered another simple method.

    • @PrimeNewtons
      @PrimeNewtons  3 หลายเดือนก่อน

      Please share

    • @Comedy_boy_30
      @Comedy_boy_30 3 หลายเดือนก่อน

      Plz share algebraic soln 😢 to this

  • @grovestreetgaming2622
    @grovestreetgaming2622 3 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Dude just divide the eqn(1) by y^2 and consider x/y =t then find roots of quadratic

  • @kapishkumar4252
    @kapishkumar4252 6 หลายเดือนก่อน

    similar question came in ioqm 2021

  • @sunil.shegaonkar1
    @sunil.shegaonkar1 6 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    At 10:45, you shift from 3D to 2D and that is little hard to digest and apply the same geometric relations.

    • @PrimeNewtons
      @PrimeNewtons  6 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      Everything was 2D. Flat on the board.

  • @haziqsheikh970
    @haziqsheikh970 6 หลายเดือนก่อน

    15:21 Isnt 1/2(10-n)+2n gives you 5 +1/2n

    • @n0limits
      @n0limits 6 หลายเดือนก่อน

      (-1/2)N + 2N = (3/2)N

  • @MyNameMeansGiftFromGod
    @MyNameMeansGiftFromGod 6 หลายเดือนก่อน +5

    Mathematics is the language of God.

  • @lukion27
    @lukion27 6 หลายเดือนก่อน

    How is the average math student to think to use a trig formula to solve an algebra problem? When I looked at this, it never would have occurred to me to use the LOC formula. Where does such inspiration come from? Is there something in the problem to look for that points to the LOC? I would have totally missed it. Learning how to recognize this would greatly improve how people approach various systems of equations that look absolutely messy to solve algebraically.

  • @Ron_DeForest
    @Ron_DeForest 6 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    How does someone get your email? It’s not in the description.

    • @ThePayner11
      @ThePayner11 6 หลายเดือนก่อน

      It's stated at the start of the vid :)

  • @chathuragalkandage3437
    @chathuragalkandage3437 6 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Can you please solve for x,y and z separately using the triangle, I tried with theta between side with size=1 and x. I used the x+y+z finding with sine law on each mini triangle to formulate an equation for theta as a*sin(theta)+b*cos(theta)=c. This involves tedious numerical calculations, nice if there is an elegant way to find x,y and z.

    • @chathuragalkandage3437
      @chathuragalkandage3437 6 หลายเดือนก่อน

      x^2 = (7+4q(3))/(15+6q(3)), y^2= 4/(15+6q(3), z^2=4(13+4q(3))/(15+6q(3)), xy=(4+2q(3))/(15+6q(3)), yz = (4+8q(3))/(15+6q(3)), zx = (16+10q(3))/(15+6q(3))

  • @rk-ds4vl
    @rk-ds4vl 6 หลายเดือนก่อน

    easy question

    • @rk-ds4vl
      @rk-ds4vl 6 หลายเดือนก่อน

      elegant solution however

  • @davidgagen9856
    @davidgagen9856 6 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Why does the area of the 3 small triangles equal the area of the large triangle....I thought they 3 dimensional not in the same plane.

    • @orionspur
      @orionspur 6 หลายเดือนก่อน

      Theta is 120⁰... So it is flat.

    • @pingao31
      @pingao31 6 หลายเดือนก่อน

      its a triangle, not a pyramid

    • @davidgagen9856
      @davidgagen9856 6 หลายเดือนก่อน

      Thought he was drawing a 3D shape. My mistake.

  • @sabandag8289
    @sabandag8289 6 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Can we use matrices ?

  • @ismail9831
    @ismail9831 6 หลายเดือนก่อน

    I found x+y+z = 5 !!!

  • @lumina_
    @lumina_ 6 หลายเดือนก่อน

    insane!!

    • @lumina_
      @lumina_ 6 หลายเดือนก่อน

      that was so beautiful

  • @reddbool647
    @reddbool647 6 หลายเดือนก่อน

    my essential math ah mind aint ready fo dis

  • @XO0X-cg5kv
    @XO0X-cg5kv 6 หลายเดือนก่อน

    insane

  • @shikharjaiswal8525
    @shikharjaiswal8525 6 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Hello respected sir
    It can also be solved using simple algebra
    And thank you for your beautiful solution 😮😊

    • @lukion27
      @lukion27 6 หลายเดือนก่อน

      Please share your algebraic solution. I would like to see it.

  • @sumitjangir528
    @sumitjangir528 6 หลายเดือนก่อน

    U look like will smith 😂