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Gold in the Exponent (Posted on 2019-12-11) Difficulty: 3 of 5
What real value of x satisfies the equation 9^x + 12^x = 16^x?

See The Solution Submitted by Brian Smith    
Rating: 4.0000 (1 votes)

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Some Thoughts computer solution | Comment 1 of 6
A graph of 9^x + 12^x - 16^x indicates this function is decreasing from positive to negative between x=1 and x=2, allowing a binary search for the zero:

  low = 1: high = 2
  Do
   DoEvents
    prev = m
    m = (low + high) / 2
    If m = prev Then Exit Do
    v = 9 ^ m + 12 ^ m - 16 ^ m
    If v > 0 Then
      low = m
      If v = 0 Or low >= high Then Exit Do
    Else
      high = m
      If v = 0 Or low >= high Then Exit Do
    End If
  Loop
  
   
  Text1.Text = Text1.Text & m & " done"
  
settles down to  

1.67272093446233

while this is close (sort of) to the golden ratio (1.618033988749895), it is definitely not that, which I had thought the title was alluding to.

Trying to identify it via Wolfram Alpha, I get really complicated expressions, like:

(121 e e! + 74 + 55 e + 57 e^2)/(450 e) ˜= 1.6727209344623327097

sqrt(1/29 (87 + 316 e - 315 p + 180 log(2))) ˜= 1.67272093446229078

I'm sure the log function is the natural log, and e! means the Gamma function of 1+e.

  Posted by Charlie on 2019-12-11 12:47:13
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