It's another snowy, snowy Monday in New England, but the Center of Math team is hard at work to continue bringing you math content. Like our Problem of the Week! This week's problem (found on mathschallenge.net) is short, but tricky. It doesn't take long to solve as long as you can make the creative first two steps.
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My solution can be found below...
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As mentioned above, this problem just took a little creativity. The first step (multiplying both sides by x) stumped me for a couple of minutes. I immediately tried the quadratic formula to solve for x, a bad choice for this problem. I remember working problem similar to this in AP Caclulus, but it certainly made a good brain teaser for a chilly Monday morning.
Any questions about my solution? Did you solve it in a different way? Leave a comment!
Any questions about my solution? Did you solve it in a different way? Leave a comment!
-Tori
What about...
ReplyDeletex³-1=(x-1)(x²+x+1)=0, hence x³=1 ?