Suppose 1/x = 2/(y + z) = 3/(z + x) = (x^2 - y - z)/(x + y + z). What is (z - y)/x?
Suppose 1/x = 2/(y + z) = 3/(z + x) = (x^2 - y - z)/(x + y + z). What is (z - y)/x?
Using the first two equalities we have that
(y + z) = 2x (1)
And using the second two equalities we have that
2(z + x) = 3(y + z) ⇒ 2(z + x) = 3(2x) ⇒ 2z = 4x ⇒ z = 2x (2)
Sub (1) into the last expression in the equality :
(x^2 - (y + z) ) x^2 - 2x x ( x - 2) x - 2
____________ = ________ = _______ = ____
(x + y + z ) x + 2x 3x 3
So using this and the first expression we have that
x - 2 1
____ = ____ cross-multiply
3 x
x^2 - 2x = 3
x^2 - 2x - 3 = 0 factor
(x - 3) ( x + 1) = 0
So either x = 3 or x = -1
Which means that z = 6 or z = -2
Let x = -1 and z = -2
(y + z) = 2x
( y - 2) = -2
Which means that y = 0
Note that....when x = -1 , z = -2 we have that
1/x = 2/(y + z) = 3/(z + x) = (x^2 - y - z)/(x + y + z)
1/ -1 = 2 / (0 - 2) = 3 / (-2 - 1) = [ (-1)^2 - 0 + 2 ] / [ -1 - 0 - 2] =
1/-1 = 2/-2 = 3/ -3 = 3/-3
-1 = - 1 = - 1 = - 1
So
(z - y ) / x =
(-2 - 0) / -1 =
2
BTW......The same result would be found when x = 3 and z = 6
Suppose \(\dfrac{1}{x} = \dfrac{2}{y + z} = \dfrac{3}{ z + x} = \dfrac{x^2 - y - z}{x + y + z}\).
What is \(\dfrac{z - y}{x}\) ?
\(\begin{array}{|rcll|} \hline \mathbf{\dfrac{1}{x}} &=& \mathbf{\dfrac{3}{ z + x}} \\\\ z + x &=& 3x \\\\ \mathbf{z} &=& \mathbf{2x} \\ \hline \end{array}\)
\(\begin{array}{|rcll|} \hline \mathbf{\dfrac{1}{x}} &=& \mathbf{\dfrac{2}{y + z}} \\\\ y+z &=& 2x \quad | \quad \mathbf{z=2x} \\\\ y+2x &=& 2x \\\\ \mathbf{y} &=& \mathbf{0} \\ \hline \end{array}\)
\(\begin{array}{|rcll|} \hline && \mathbf{\dfrac{z - y}{x}} \quad | \quad \mathbf{y=0} \\\\ &=& \dfrac{z}{x} \quad | \quad \mathbf{z=2x} \\\\ &=& \dfrac{2x}{x} \\\\ &=& \mathbf{2} \\ \hline \end{array}\)