Suppose that for some a,b,c we have a+b+c=6, ab+ac+bc=5 and abc=−12. What is a3+b3+c3?
Solution — click to reveal
Notice that (x−a)(x−b)(x−c)=x3−(a+b+c)x2+(ab+ac+bc)x−abc=x3−6x2+5x+12. Thus by finding the roots we will determine the set {a,b,c}. But the roots are x=−1,3,4, so we see that a3+b3+c3=−1+27+64=90.