Browse · MATH
Printjmc
algebra intermediate
Problem
There are two distinct solutions to the equation . If each solution is rounded to the nearest integer, and then these two integers are multiplied together, what is the result?
Solution
First, we rearrange the equation so that one side is a quadratic written in the usual way and the other side is . We can do this by subtracting from each side (and reordering the terms): This doesn't factor in any obvious way, so we apply the quadratic formula, which gives We observe that is between and , so is between and . Thus one of our solutions is between and , while the other is between and . Rounding each solution to the nearest integer, we get and , the product of which is .
Final answer
3