Math Contest #17 Results and Solution

Solution

The problem of this contest was:

This equation can be factored to:
n⁸ × (4n² - 2n - 1) = 0
→ n = 0 OR (4n² - 2n - 1) = 0
As @mobi72 discovered you can use the quadratic formula on the right one and get:
n = 0 OR n = -¼ ±√(1/16 + 1/4) = -¼ ±√(5/16) = (-1 ±√5)/4
↓
(0), ((-1 +√5)/4), ((-1 -√5)/4)
↓↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓

List of participants with their entries:

Name	solutions found	comment
@sparkesy43	n = 0	As always going for the trivial solution only…
@mobi72	all 3
@zuerich	all 3

↓↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓

Winner draw:

Congratulations @sparkesy43 you won 1 SBI!
↓↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓↑↓

The next contest starts tomorrow. Don't miss it!