202111250959 Solution to 1995-IB-MATH-HL-I-2

Calculate $x$ and $y$ exactly, as rational numbers, if

$\begin{aligned} 5^{3x}\times 25^{y}& =\frac{1}{5} \\ \textrm{and} \qquad\qquad 7^{x}\times 49^{2y} & = 1 \\ \end{aligned}$ .

Working.

From the first equation,

$\begin{aligned} 5^{3x}\times 25^{y} & = \frac{1}{5} \\ 5^{3x} \times 5^{2y} & = 5^{-1} \\ 5^{3x+2y} & = 5^{-1} \\ 3x+2y & = -1 \\ \end{aligned}$ .

From the second equation,

$\begin{aligned} 7^x\times 49^{2y} & = 1 \\ 7^x\times 7^{4y} & = 7^{0} \\ 7^{x+4y} & = 7^0 \\ x+4y & = 0 \\ \end{aligned}$ .

We have two linear equations with two unknowns:

$\begin{cases} 3x+2y = -1 \\ x+4y = 0 \\ \end{cases}$

Substituting $-4y$ for $x$ ,

$\begin{aligned} 3(-4y)+2y & =-1 \\ -12y+2y & = -1 \\ -10 y & = -1 \\ y & = \frac{1}{10} \\ \end{aligned}$

Then,

$x=-4y=\displaystyle{-4\bigg(\frac{1}{10}\bigg)=-\frac{2}{5}}$ .

Answers.

$\begin{cases} \enspace x = - \displaystyle{\frac{2}{5}} \\ \enspace y = \displaystyle{\frac{1}{10}} \\ \end{cases}$