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2004 Paper 2 Q1
D: 1600.0 B: 1516.0

Find all real values of \(x\) that satisfy:

  1. \( \ds \sqrt{3x^2+1} + \sqrt{x} -2x-1=0 \;;\)
  2. \( \ds \sqrt{3x^2+1} - 2\sqrt{x} +x-1=0 \;;\)
  3. \( \ds \sqrt{3x^2+1} - 2\sqrt{x} -x+1=0 \;.\)


Solution:

  1. \(\,\) \begin{align*} && 0 &= \sqrt{3x^2+1} + \sqrt{x} -2x-1 \\ \Rightarrow && 2x+1 &= \sqrt{3x^2+1} + \sqrt{x} \\ \Rightarrow && 4x^2+4x+1 &= 3x^2+1+x+2\sqrt{x(3x^2+1)} \\ \Rightarrow && x^2+3x &= 2\sqrt{x(3x^2+1)} \\ \Rightarrow && x^2(x^2+6x+9) &= 4x(3x^2+1) \\ \Rightarrow && 0 &= x^4-6x^3+9x^2-4x \\ &&&= x(x-4)(x-1)^2 \end{align*} So clearly we have \(x = 0, x = 1, x = 4\). \(x = 0\) works, \(x = 1\) works, \(x = 4\) works.
  2. \(\,\) \begin{align*} && 0 &= \sqrt{3x^2+1} - 2\sqrt{x} +x-1 \\ \Rightarrow && 1-x &= \sqrt{3x^2+1}-2\sqrt{x} \\ \Rightarrow && x^2-2x+1 &= 3x^2+1+4x-4\sqrt{x(3x^2+1)} \\ \Rightarrow && x^2+3x &= 2\sqrt{x(3x^2+1)} \\ \Rightarrow && 0 &= x(x-4)(x-1)^2 \end{align*} Again we must check \(x = 0, x = 1, x = 4\). \(x = 0,1\) work, but \(x = 4\) is not a solution.
  3. \(\,\) \begin{align*} && 0 &= \sqrt{3x^2+1} - 2\sqrt{x} -x+1 \\ \Rightarrow && x-1 &= \sqrt{3x^2+1} - 2\sqrt{x} \\ \Rightarrow && x^2-2x+1 &= 3x^2+1+4x-4\sqrt{x(3x^2+1)} \\ \Rightarrow && x^2+3x &= 2\sqrt{x(3x^2+1)}\\ \Rightarrow && 0 &= x(x-4)(x-1)^2 \end{align*} So again, we need to check \(x = 0, 1, 4\). \(x = 0, 4\) work, but \(x = 1\) fails.