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The realm of quadratics (Posted on 2024-10-18) Difficulty: 3 of 5
What is the largest possible rational root of the equation ax2 + bx + c = 0 where a, b and c are positive integers that do not exceed 100?

No Solution Yet Submitted by Danish Ahmed Khan    
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Solution Solution Comment 1 of 1
Any possible rational root must be negative when all the coefficients are positive.  The coefficients a and c dictate the possible rational roots have numerator and denominator at most 100.  So then we want such a fraction as close to zero as possible on the negative side.

The closest two values are -1/100 and -1/99.
If x=-1/100 then a=100 is mandatory.  Then substitute and rearrange a bit to get 1/100 + c =  b/100. This would imply b has to be at least 101, which is out of the range.  So no solution here.

Then do the same thing with -1/99 and eventually get 1/99 + c = b/99.  Here we do get a valid solution with b=100 and c=1.

  Posted by Brian Smith on 2024-10-19 16:51:10
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