I'm having a problem with this question:
For which values of the real parameter a the equation:
$$||x|-1|=a$$
has exactly 4 solutions?
The solution is this: $$0 < a < 1$$
What I tried was this:
1) Make the first condition, $a>0$,
Split the equation in these two: $(1)~|x|-1=a;~(2)~|x|-1=-a$.
2) Make the second conditions, $(1)~a+1>0,~a>-1; (2)~-a+1>0,~a<1$
If the conditions are true, the equation will have 4 solutions, therefore, a is contained in the interval $<0,1>$, which is $0 < a < 1$.
Was the described procedure correct?
Thanks in advance.
Notice that $$|x|=\alpha\iff x=\pm\alpha$$ so we have two values of $x$ if $\alpha>0$ hence
$$||x|-1|=a\iff |x|-1=\pm a\iff|x|=1+\pm a\iff x=\pm(1+\pm a)$$ and we have $4$ values of $x$ if $a>0$ and $1+\pm a>0$ hence $a>-1$ and $a<1$ so $a\in(0,1)$.