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A function ${\displaystyle f(x)})$ defined for ${\displaystyle x>a}$, where ${\displaystyle a}$ is a constant, and a quartic function ${\displaystyle g(x)}$ whose leading coefficient is ${\displaystyle -1}$ satisfy the three conditions below:

A) For all real numbers ${\displaystyle x}$, such that ${\displaystyle x>a}$, ${\displaystyle (x-a)f(x)=g(x)}$

B) For two different real numbers ${\displaystyle \alpha }$ and ${\displaystyle \beta }$ , ${\displaystyle f(x)}$ has the same local maximum ${\displaystyle M}$ at ${\displaystyle x=\alpha }$ and ${\displaystyle x=\beta }$ . $({\displaystyle M>0}$

C) ${\displaystyle f(x)}$ has more local extrema than ${\displaystyle g(x)}$ does. ${\displaystyle \beta -\alpha =6{\sqrt {3}}}$. Find the minimum of ${\displaystyle M}$

My solution is as follow

$x-a>0$ and $(x-a)f(x)=g(x)$

Hence $f(x)=-x^3+bx^2+cx+d$

Given $f'(\alpha)=0$ and $f'(\beta)=0$ and $f''(\alpha)<0$ and $f''(\beta)<0$ and also $f(\alpha)=f(\beta)$

How do we proceed from here. For reference the I got the question from the following website https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/College_Scholastic_Ability_Test#Mathematics_2

  • You should also use the information $f$ has more local extrema than $g$ somewhere. $f$ has exactly 3 (cubic with two distinct local maxima), hence $g$ has at most 2, a generic quartic has 4. – quarague Mar 02 '22 at 13:06
  • @quarague This is korean CASAT problem , if $f(x) has three toots then definitely one is local maxima and the other is local minima but how can we have have two distinct local maxima, this is the main problem – Samar Imam Zaidi Mar 02 '22 at 13:15
  • You are right, I miscounted the extrema. f is a cubic, so if it is defined on the entire real line it has at most two local extrema, a min and a max. The only way I see two local max is if one of them is at a. This would be a local max if f is defined for $x \ge a$. The text says f is only defined for $x >a$, which makes this very strange. If you go with one max at $x=a$ one can write out a few equations but it becomes a big mess, not sure whether that is intended. – quarague Mar 02 '22 at 14:00
  • That is why it is called killer problem – Samar Imam Zaidi Mar 02 '22 at 14:32

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