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jmc

algebra senior

Problem

Let and be constants such that the equation has infinitely many solutions for For these values of and it turns out that there are only finitely many values of which are not solutions to the equation. Find the sum of these values of
Solution
If the given equation is true, then multiplying by gives the equation which must also be true. (Note however, that the converse does not hold: that is, by multiplying by we may have introduced extraneous roots.) Therefore, the above equation must also have infinitely many roots for That is, the polynomials and must agree for infinitely many values of This means that they must be identical polynomials. (In general, if for infinitely many then has infinitely many roots, which is only possible if is identically the zero polynomial.)

This means that for all Expanding both sides, we get Corresponding coefficients of both sides must be equal, so we have From the first and third equations, and Then substituting into the second equation gives so and then This means that our original equation was This equation holds whenever the denominator is nonzero. The denominator is equal to zero when and so the sum of the values of which are not roots of the original equation is
Final answer
-21