Skip to main content

2021 Fall AMC 12B Problem 21

Problem 21 of 25HarderAlgebraGeometry

For real numbers x,x, let P(x)=1+cos(x)+isin(x)cos(2x)isin(2x)+cos(3x)+isin(3x) \begin{aligned} P(x) &= 1 + \cos(x) + i\sin(x) \\ &\quad {}- \cos(2x) - i\sin(2x) \\ &\quad {}+ \cos(3x) + i\sin(3x) \end{aligned} where i=1.i = \sqrt{-1}. For how many values of xx with 0x<2π0 \le x \lt 2\pi does P(x)=0?P(x) = 0?

Answer choices

Show solution

Solution

Group by Euler’s formula: P(x)=1+eixe2ix+e3ix.P(x) = 1 + e^{ix} - e^{2ix} + e^{3ix}. The imaginary part is sinxsin2x+sin3x=(sinx+sin3x)sin2x=sin2x(2cosx1). \begin{gathered} \sin x - \sin 2x + \sin 3x \\ = (\sin x + \sin 3x) - \sin 2x \\ = \sin 2x(2\cos x - 1). \end{gathered} This vanishes when sin2x=0\sin 2x = 0 (so x=0,π2,π,3π2x = 0, \tfrac{\pi}{2}, \pi, \tfrac{3\pi}{2}) or cosx=12\cos x = \tfrac12 (so x=π3,5π3x = \tfrac{\pi}{3}, \tfrac{5\pi}{3}). Checking the real part 1+cosxcos2x+cos3x1 + \cos x - \cos 2x + \cos 3x at each of these values gives ±2\pm 2 or 1,1, never 0.0. So no xx makes P(x)=0.P(x) = 0. Thus, the correct answer is A.

More practice

Concepts: complex number · trigonometric identity

Problem text and solution from the LIVE past-contest archive. See also the AoPS wiki page for community solutions.