Valentin Vornicu 9:00:28 pm AMC 12 PROBLEM SERIES WEEK 1: QUADRATICS, VIETA, AND FACTORIZATION Valentin Vornicu 9:00:36 pm Hello

and welcome to the Art of Problem Solving's AMC 12 Problem Series. Valentin Vornicu 9:00:43 pm Before we get started, I'd like to discuss with you a few classroom procedures. Valentin Vornicu 9:00:49 pm This classroom is moderated. This means that the messages you type will come to the instructors rather than going directly into the room. The instructors will choose some of the messages to share with all of the students. Valentin Vornicu 9:01:18 pm Only the instructors have the ability to send private messages in the classroom. Sometimes they will use these to respond to your comments. The instructor or teaching assistant can initiate a private conversation with you that will open in a separate window. Valentin Vornicu 9:01:26 pm There are some images in this class. As not all of you have tested the classroom, here are two images to test: Valentin Vornicu
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Valentin Vornicu 9:01:38 pm The image should have appeared in the classroom window, and should be identical. Valentin Vornicu 9:01:54 pm If you're having trouble seeing an image tell us and we'll try to help you. Valentin Vornicu 9:02:01 pm This virtual classroom is LaTeX enabled. LaTeX is a typesetting system that allows users to make nice equations and other math expressions. If you would like to learn how to write in LaTeX, click on the "Resources" tab on the top part of our

website and there is a LaTeX Guide there, and a place where you can practice called TeXer. Valentin Vornicu 9:02:11 pm Please note that it is not required to use LaTeX in this class, so if you have no idea how the above LaTeX code work, don't worry about it. However, if you do know LaTeX, it can make your posts a bit easier to read. Valentin Vornicu 9:02:38 pm Using LaTeX in the virtual classroom is slightly different than using it on the message board or in a LaTeX editor. If anything you type up in a post that uses LaTeX then you must use a semicolon (;) to begin your post. For example, if you type Valentin Vornicu
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Valentin Vornicu 9:02:45 pm This message will look like this when posted in the classroom: Valentin Vornicu
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Valentin Vornicu 9:02:55 pm Just remember, if your post has LaTeX, use the semicolon (;) to begin your post! Valentin Vornicu 9:03:05 pm If you don't see properly typeset math with a "plus or minus" symbol in that post I just made, then you may have the domain that serves images to our classroom blocked in your security software. You should have both www.artofproblemsolving.com and s3.amazonaws.com enabled in your parental control or internet security software. Valentin Vornicu 9:03:19 pm There are a lot of students in this class, so I will not be able to post every student response in the classroom. Please do not take it personally when your responses do not get shared with the class! Valentin Vornicu 9:03:35 pm Also, sometimes after asking a question, I will wait a little while before proceeding, giving many students in the class a chance to respond. Take the time to make sure your responses are clear, and include your reasoning in your responses. Valentin Vornicu 9:04:04 pm Next, everything you will need for this course can be found on the AMC 12 Problem Series home page. You get to this page by clicking "My Classes" on the top right of any page on the AoPS website and then clicking on the AMC 12 Problem Series link.

Valentin Vornicu 9:04:10 pm There is a message board for this class. You can find it by clicking the Message Board link on the right side of the AMC 12 Problem Series home page. You can also get there by clicking Community on the top of any page and then looking in the Online Classes section of the forum. Valentin Vornicu 9:04:32 pm There will be weekly problems posted on the message board after every class. We will also answer questions and make announcements on this board. You are encouraged to use this in order to collaborate or to ask any questions you may want. Valentin Vornicu 9:05:02 pm There is also a form on the AMC 12 Problem Series home page that will let you post questions to the message board. When you use this, the class instructors will be notified, so this is the best way to make sure your questions are answered quickly. Valentin Vornicu 9:05:28 pm The next thing I would like to talk about is how this course will proceed. There will be a lot of material to cover that you haven't seen before (after all, that's why you're taking this course). I will pause often for questions and I will post some of your responses within the chat. Don't be shy! Valentin Vornicu 9:05:40 pm Please feel free to ask questions since much of this material can be difficult at a first glance, but it is important to understand each concept in the lessons because we will be building from the basics to more difficult ideas as we go. Valentin Vornicu 9:06:00 pm Try to stay focused on the material and answer as many of the questions as you feel able. You will probably want to keep a pencil and paper handy. If you do not have them, now might be a good time to get them. Valentin Vornicu 9:06:37 pm The assistant for this class will be Samson Zhou (towersfreak2006). Samson is currently working on his Ph.D. degree in computer science at Purdue University, having earned Bachelors in both CS and math, as well as a Masters degree in CS as an undergraduate at MIT. In his free time, he enjoys playing games such as Dominion, Bridge, or Bughouse. He is a total sports junkie, constantly surfing ESPN, as well as immersing himself completely in Ultimate Frisbee this fall. Hes also a huge fan of college football and will eagerly share his opinion of the NCAA systems with you. If you ever have any questions or interesting observations about this class, feel free to send him a private message, and he'll gladly respond! Valentin Vornicu 9:06:55 pm We plan on answering all of your questions in this class. If you're confused about anything, just type your question and one of us will answer it.

Valentin Vornicu 9:07:11 pm If the classroom is too small for you, you can resize it. Valentin Vornicu 9:07:32 pm We will also "sticky" problems and important comments to the top of the room. Valentin Vornicu 9:07:39 pm You can slide the bar between the "sticky" portion of the room on the top of the classroom and the rest of the classroom to make it larger or smaller. Doing this will help you read the sticky and the classroom. Valentin Vornicu 9:08:39 pm Before we start with the lesson, I'll make a few general comments about the course. Valentin Vornicu 9:08:47 pm An hour or two after every class we'll post a complete transcript of everything that happened. You can find this on the right side of the AMC 12 Problem Series home page. You can use this to review anything in class that you might not have understood at the time. Valentin Vornicu 9:08:53 pm After each class, we will also post practice problems on the message board. Valentin Vornicu 9:09:00 pm You should try to do most of the message board problems, and post your answers on the message board. Don't worry if others have already posted their answers go ahead and add your own! Maybe you'll find a different way to do the problem. Valentin Vornicu 9:09:13 pm You are not required to do every single message board problem, but practicing on the message problems is the best way to learn and understand the concepts presented in each lecture. Valentin Vornicu 9:09:21 pm Now let's get to the math. Today, we will be looking at quadratic equations, Vieta's formulas, and factorizations. Valentin Vornicu 9:09:30 pm QUADRATIC EQUATIONS Valentin Vornicu
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Valentin Vornicu 9:09:50 pm It is essential to develop a complete understanding of quadratic equations and their features, such as using the discriminant to give us information about the

roots. We start with the idea that we can solve any quadratic equation using the quadratic formula. Valentin Vornicu
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Valentin Vornicu 9:11:09 pm Let x be a number that differs from its reciprocal by 1. What equation can we write down? Valentin Vornicu
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Valentin Vornicu 9:13:25 pm What are the roots of this quadratic equation? Valentin Vornicu
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Valentin Vornicu 9:14:39 pm So do we get the answer by adding these roots? Valentin Vornicu 9:16:07 pm The root (1 + sqrt(5))/2 is positive, but the root (1 - sqrt(5))/2 is negative, so adding these roots does not give us the right answer. Valentin Vornicu 9:17:00 pm We have only one positive number to work with. Have we overlooked something?

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Valentin Vornicu 9:18:56 pm What are the roots of this quadratic equation? Valentin Vornicu
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Valentin Vornicu 9:21:54 pm The root (-1 + sqrt(5))/2 is positive, and the root (-1 - sqrt(5))/2 is negative. Valentin Vornicu 9:21:58 pm The sum of the positive numbers that each differs from its reciprocal by 1 is (1 + sqrt(5))/2 + (-1 + sqrt(5))/2 = sqrt(5). The answer is (C). Valentin Vornicu 9:22:04 pm When solving a problem, make sure you read the problem carefully. In this problem, the condition about the numbers being positive turned out to be very important.

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Valentin Vornicu 9:23:47 pm What should we do first with the given equation? Valentin Vornicu
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Valentin Vornicu 9:25:35 pm (We have written it this way so that the coefficient of x is clear. If you need to, you should always re-write your quadratic so that the coefficients are clear.) Valentin Vornicu 9:25:49 pm Now you should know that a quadratic has only one solution if it its discriminant is 0. What is the discriminant of this quadratic equation? Valentin Vornicu
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Valentin Vornicu 9:26:50 pm What can we do with this equation? Valentin Vornicu
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Valentin Vornicu 9:27:21 pm So what is the answer? Valentin Vornicu 9:29:40 pm The possible values of a are 12 - 8 = 4 and -12 - 8 = -20. Their sum is 4 - 20 = -16. The answer is (A). Valentin Vornicu
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Valentin Vornicu 9:30:38 pm Since we want to find the largest value of y/x, what can we do? Valentin Vornicu 9:31:45 pm We want to find the largest value of y/x, so let's set this to be a variable. Let k = y/x. What can we do next? Valentin Vornicu 9:33:17 pm We can solve for y, to get y = kx. Valentin Vornicu
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Valentin Vornicu 9:33:28 pm What can we do with this equation? Valentin Vornicu
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Valentin Vornicu 9:35:47 pm We can solve for x using the quadratic formula, but what are we really looking for? Valentin Vornicu 9:37:03 pm We want to find the greatest value of k for which this quadratic equation has real roots, so what do we want? Valentin Vornicu 9:38:03 pm We want the discriminant of this quadratic equation to be nonnegative. What is the discriminant of this quadratic equation?

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Valentin Vornicu 9:40:47 pm What can we do first? Valentin Vornicu

Valentin Vornicu 9:42:11 pm (Note that the inequality changes direction, because we have divided by a negative number.) Valentin Vornicu 9:43:16 pm How do we solve this inequality? Valentin Vornicu 9:43:46 pm We solve this inequality by looking at the corresponding quadratic equation, namely k^2 - 6k + 1 = 0. Valentin Vornicu 9:43:51 pm What are the roots of this quadratic equation? Valentin Vornicu
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Valentin Vornicu 9:47:33 pm We conclude that the largest possible value of k = y/x is 3 + 2 sqrt(2). The answer is (A). Valentin Vornicu 9:47:37 pm The lesson here is that we do not always have to solve for the roots of a quadratic equation; sometimes, we just want to know about the nature of the roots (such as when they are real, or when there is only one), and in these cases, it suffices to check the discriminant. Valentin Vornicu 9:47:42 pm We obtain the quadratic formula by an important technique for handling quadratic equations known as completing the square. However, completing the square isn't just useful for solving quadratic equations; completing the square also tells us how quadratic functions behave. Valentin Vornicu 9:47:59 pm VIETA'S FORMULAS Valentin Vornicu 9:48:33 pm Given the quadratic equation ax^2 + bx + c = 0, what are the sum and product of the roots? Valentin Vornicu 9:50:06 pm The sum of the roots is -b/a, and the product of the roots is c/a. Valentin Vornicu 9:50:14 pm We can compute these using the quadratic formula, but for higher degree polynomials, it may be impossible to solve the roots explicitly. Valentin Vornicu 9:50:20 pm Fortunately, there is a class of formulas, known as Vieta's formulas, that give us information about the roots based only on the coefficients of the polynomial. Valentin Vornicu
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Valentin Vornicu 9:51:44 pm These formulas generalize to higher degree polynomials in the obvious way. Note how the expressions on the right alternate in sign. Valentin Vornicu
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Valentin Vornicu 9:52:03 pm Let r and s be the roots of x^2 + px + m = 0. What equations can we write down involving r and s? Valentin Vornicu 9:54:50 pm By Vieta's formulas, r + s = -p and rs = m. Valentin Vornicu 9:55:10 pm Similarly, the roots of x^2 + mx + n = 0 are 2r and 2s. So what equations can we write down? Valentin Vornicu 9:56:39 pm By Vieta's formulas, 2r + 2s = -m and (2r)(2s) = n. Valentin Vornicu 9:56:46 pm Since r + s = -p and 2r + 2s = -m, what is the relationship between p and m? Valentin Vornicu 9:58:44 pm We have that m = -(2r + 2s) = -2(r + s) = 2p. Valentin Vornicu 9:58:49 pm Since rs = m and (2r)(2s) = n, what is the relationship between m and n? Valentin Vornicu 10:00:39 pm We have that n = (2r)(2s) = 4rs = 4m. Valentin Vornicu 10:00:51 pm And we are done: since m = 2p, n = 4m = 4(2p) = 8p, so n/p = 8. The answer is (D). Valentin Vornicu
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Valentin Vornicu 10:03:10 pm By Vieta's formulas, r + s = -m and rs = n. Valentin Vornicu 10:03:20 pm (Same thing as the previous problem.) Valentin Vornicu
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Valentin Vornicu 10:07:28 pm To solve the problem, let's express p and q in terms of m and n. Valentin Vornicu
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Valentin Vornicu 10:12:30 pm Hence, the answer is (B). Valentin Vornicu 10:13:29 pm FACTORIZATIONS Valentin Vornicu 10:13:39 pm The main factorizations that you should be familiar with are difference of squares, difference of cubes, and sum of cubes. These generalize to difference of nth powers, and sum of nth powers (for n odd). Valentin Vornicu
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Valentin Vornicu 10:15:32 pm What do we know about a - b? Valentin Vornicu 10:17:31 pm We know that a - b = x, and we know that a - b is not equal to 0. Valentin Vornicu
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Valentin Vornicu 10:17:56 pm In the problem, we notice that all the choices involve a and x but not b, so we probably want to eliminate the variable b. How can do we that? Valentin Vornicu
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Valentin Vornicu 10:20:47 pm What are the roots of this quadratic equation? Valentin Vornicu 10:22:24 pm The quadratic equation factors as 3(a - 3x)(a + 2x) = 0. Hence, a = 3x or a = -2x. Valentin Vornicu 10:22:38 pm We must now check if these solutions work. Valentin Vornicu
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Valentin Vornicu 10:23:40 pm Hence, both a = 3x and a = -2x work. The answer is (B).

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Valentin Vornicu 10:24:18 pm This looks like a very complicated expression to deal with, and it is. The key is not to be intimidated, and to try to simplify the expression, one step at a time. Valentin Vornicu 10:25:27 pm There's not much we can do with the denominator, so let's look at the numerator. Valentin Vornicu
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Valentin Vornicu 10:27:27 pm What can we do with this expression? Valentin Vornicu 10:28:27 pm It simplifies by difference of squares! Valentin Vornicu
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Valentin Vornicu 10:29:38 pm We can expand. What does this give us? Valentin Vornicu
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Valentin Vornicu 10:30:23 pm That's much simpler than what we started with! Valentin Vornicu 10:30:26 pm So what is the minimum value of this function? Valentin Vornicu
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Valentin Vornicu 10:31:31 pm This shows that f(x) is always at least 6, but how do we know that the minimum value of f(x) is 6? Valentin Vornicu 10:32:27 pm We must show that f(x) can be equal to 6 for some value of x. Valentin Vornicu 10:32:31 pm Since f(1) = 6, the minimum value of f(x) is 6. The answer is (E). Valentin Vornicu SUMMARY
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Valentin Vornicu 10:32:45 pm In today's class, we saw how to deal with quadratic equations. We know how to solve quadratic equations using the quadratic formula, but it is also important to be familiar the significance of the discriminant, and the technique of completing the square. Valentin Vornicu 10:32:59 pm We also saw how to use Vieta's formulas effectively to quickly gain information about the roots of polynomials, and how to use factorizations effectively. We saw that factorizations are not just useful for solving equations, but also for simplifying expressions and understanding their properties.