Question #253d6

1 Answer
Oct 16, 2015

Here's what I got.

Explanation:

You know that two quadratic equations

3x^2 + px + 1 = 0" " " "color(purple)((1))

and

2x^2 + qx + 1 = 0" " " "color(purple)((2))

have a common root and that the following relationship exists between p and q

2p^2 + 3q^2 -5pq + 1 = 0

Now let's assume that color(blue)(n) is the common root. Since that would imply that color(blue)(n) is a root for both equations, you can say that

3 * color(blue)(n)^2 + p * color(blue)(n) + 1 = 0

and

2 * color(blue)(n)^2 + q * color(blue)(n) + 1 = 0

This is equivalent to saying that

3n^2 + pn + color(red)(cancel(color(black)(1))) = 2n^2 + qn + color(red)(cancel(color(black)(1)))

Rearrange to get the value of n in terms of p and q

3n^2 - 2n^2 + pn - qn = 0

n^2 + n(p-q) = 0

n * (n + p-q) = 0 implies {(n=0), (n + p - q = 0 <=> n = q - p) :}

SInce n=0 does not satify the original equations, you get that n = q - p.

Check to see if the given relationship is true, first for equation color(purple)((1))

3 * (q-p)^2 + p * (q-p) + 1 = 0

3q^2 - 6pq + 3p^2 + pq - p^2 + 1 = 0

This is equal to

2p^2 + 3q^2 - 5pq + 1 = 0color(white)(x)color(green)(sqrt())

and the nfor equation color(purple)((2))

2(q-p)^2 + q(q-p) + 1 = 0

2q^2 - 4pq + 2p^2 + q^2 - qp + 1 = 0

This will once again give

2p^2 + 3q^2 - 5pq + 1 = 0color(white)(x)color(green)(sqrt())