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Latest revision as of 14:52, 3 April 2012

Problem

Let $P_{1}: y=x^{2}+\frac{101}{100}$ and $P_{2}: x=y^{2}+\frac{45}{4}$ be two parabolas in the Cartesian plane. Let $\mathcal{L}$ be the common tangent line of $P_{1}$ and $P_{2}$ that has a rational slope. If $\mathcal{L}$ is written in the form $ax+by=c$ for positive integers $a,b,c$ where $\gcd(a,b,c)=1$, find $a+b+c$.

Solution

From the condition that $\mathcal L$ is tangent to $P_1$ we have that the system of equations $ax + by = c$ and ${y = x^2 + \frac{101}{100}}$ has exactly one solution, so $ax + b(x^2 + \frac{101}{100}) = c$ has exactly one solution. A quadratic equation with only one solution must have discriminant equal to zero, so we must have $a^2 - 4\cdot b \cdot (\frac{101}{100}b - c) = 0$ or equivalently $25a^2 -101b^2 + 100bc = 0$. Applying the same process to $P_2$, we have that $a(y^2 + \frac{45}4) + by = c$ has a unique root so $b^2 - 4\cdot a \cdot (\frac{45}4a - c) = 0$ or equivalently $b^2 - 45a^2 + 4ac = 0$. We multiply the first of these equations through by $a$ and the second through by $25b$ and subtract in order to eliminate $c$ and get $25a^3 + 1125 a^2b - 101ab^2 - 25b^3 = 0$. We know that the slope of $\mathcal L$, $-\frac b a$, is a rational number, so we divide this equation through by $-a^3$ and let $\frac b a = q$ to get $25q^3 +101q^2 - 1125q - 25 = 0$. Since we're searching for a rational root, we can use the Rational Root Theorem to search all possibilities and find that $q = 5$ is a solution. (The other two roots are the roots of the quadratic equation $25q^2 + 226q +5 = 0$, both of which are irrational.) Thus $b = 5a$. Now we go back to one of our first equations, say $b^2 - 45a^2 + 4ac = 0$, to get $25a^2 - 45a^2 + 4ac = 0 \Longrightarrow c = 5a$. (We can reject the alternate possibility $a = 0$ because that would give $a = b = 0$ and our "line" would not exist.) Then $a : b : c = 1 : 5 : 5$ and since the greatest common divisor of the three numbers is 1, $a = 1, b = 5, c = 5$ and $a + b + c = 011$.

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