When the square of the sum of two numbers are added to the square of t

When the square of the sum of two numbers are added to the square of their difference, we get 416. The difference between the square of the sum and square of the difference is 384. What are the numbers ?

18 and 24
12 and 16
8 and 12
10 and 12
This question was previously asked in
UPSC CISF-AC-EXE – 2022
Let the two numbers be ‘a’ and ‘b’. The sum of the numbers is (a + b) and the difference is (a – b). The problem gives two conditions based on the squares of the sum and difference.
Condition 1: The square of the sum added to the square of the difference is 416.
(a + b)² + (a – b)² = 416.
Using the identities (a+b)² = a² + 2ab + b² and (a-b)² = a² – 2ab + b², we get:
(a² + 2ab + b²) + (a² – 2ab + b²) = 416.
2a² + 2b² = 416.
Dividing by 2, we get: a² + b² = 208. (Equation 1)
Condition 2: The difference between the square of the sum and the square of the difference is 384.
(a + b)² – (a – b)² = 384.
Using the identities again:
(a² + 2ab + b²) – (a² – 2ab + b²) = 384.
a² + 2ab + b² – a² + 2ab – b² = 384.
4ab = 384.
Dividing by 4, we get: ab = 96. (Equation 2)
We now have a system of two equations:
1) a² + b² = 208
2) ab = 96
We can check the options given to see which pair of numbers satisfies both equations.
Option C gives the numbers 8 and 12.
Let’s test if a=8 and b=12 satisfy the equations:
Equation 1: 8² + 12² = 64 + 144 = 208. (Satisfied)
Equation 2: 8 * 12 = 96. (Satisfied)
Since the numbers 8 and 12 satisfy both conditions derived from the problem statement, they are the correct numbers. Alternatively, we can solve the system using the identities (a+b)² = a²+b²+2ab and (a-b)² = a²+b²-2ab.
(a+b)² = 208 + 2(96) = 208 + 192 = 400 => a+b = √400 = 20 (assuming positive numbers).
(a-b)² = 208 – 2(96) = 208 – 192 = 16 => a-b = √16 = 4 (assuming a>b).
Solving a+b=20 and a-b=4: Adding gives 2a=24 => a=12. Substituting gives 12+b=20 => b=8. The numbers are 12 and 8.