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jmc

algebra senior

Problem

A function is defined for all real numbers . For all non-zero values , we have Let denote the sum of all of the values of for which . Compute the integer nearest to .
Solution
Substituting , we have This gives us two equations, which we can eliminate from (the first equation multiplied by two, subtracting the second): Clearly, the discriminant of the quadratic equation , so both roots are real. By Vieta's formulas, the sum of the roots is the coefficient of the term, so our answer is .
Final answer
601