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jmc

algebra junior

Problem

Solve for .
Solution
Rewrite as , and subtract from both sides to obtain . There are no solutions of this equation for , because neither nor is greater than 1 if . Trying , , and , we see that is increasing for , and it equals 19 when .

Note: Using calculus, we could prove that is monotonically increasing for , which would prove that the solution we found is unique.
Final answer
2