Show that the curve:

x^3 + 3xy + y^3 = 1

contains only one set of three distinct points, A, B, and C, which are vertices of an equilateral triangle, and find its area.

The “curve” x^3+3xy+y^3-1 = 0 is actually reducible, because the left side factors as
(x+y-1)(x^2-xy+y^2+x+y+1 Moreover, the second factor is

{1/2}*((x + 1)^2 + (y + 1)^2 + (x - y)^2) 

so it only vanishes at (-1,-1). Thus the curve in question consists of the single point (-1,-1) together with the line

x + y = 1

To form a triangle with three points on this curve, one of its vertices must be (-1,-1) . The other two vertices lie on the line x + y = 1 so the length of the altitude from (-1,-1) is the distance from (-1,-1) to (1/2,1/2)  or    {3 sqrt{2}}/2  The area of an equilateral triangle of height h is   h^2 sqrt{3}/3   , so the desired area is   {3 sqrt{3}}/2   .

Remark:

The factorization used above is a special case of the fact that

 x^3 + y^3 + z^3-3xyz = (x + y + z)(x + omega y + omega 2z)(x + omega 2y + omega z).

Where omega denotes a primitive cube root of unity. That fact in turn follows from the evaluation of the determinant of the circulant matrix

matrix{3}{3}{x y z z x y y z x }

by reading off the eigenvalues of the eigenvectors (1, omega i, omega 2i) for     i = 0, 1, 2    

Categories: Math

1 Comment

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