<s>[INST] How to prove that $(-18+\sqrt{325})^{\frac{1}{3}}+(-18-\sqrt{325})^{\frac{1}{3}} = 3$ How to prove that $\left(-18+\sqrt{325}\right)^{\frac{1}{3}}+\left(-18-\sqrt{325}\right)^{\frac{1}{3}} = 3$ in a direct way ?
I have found one indirect way to do so: Define $t=\left(-18+\sqrt{325}\right)^{\frac{1}{3}}+\left(-18-\sqrt{325}\right)^{\frac{1}{3}}$, and then observe $t$ is a root of $f(x) = x^3 + 3x - 36 = 0$. Also observe that $f(3) = 0$. Now $f(x)$ has only one real root, since $f'(x) = x^2+3$ has no real solution. So $t =3$, as desired. 
But I couldn't find any direct/algebraic way of fiddling it for a while. I guess morever this is true:  $\left(-\frac{t(t^2+3)}{2}+\sqrt{\left[\frac{t(t^2+3)}{2}\right]^2 + 1}\right)^{\frac{1}{3}}+\left(-\frac{t(t^2+3)}{2}-\sqrt{\left[\frac{t(t^2+3)}{2}\right]^2 + 1}\right)^{\frac{1}{3}} = t$, which can possibly be proved in the same indirect way but I don't know how to prove this by direct manipulation. 
One way maybe is to write $z_+ = \left(-\frac{t(t^2+3)}{2}+\sqrt{\left[\frac{t(t^2+3)}{2}\right]^2 + 1}\right)^{\frac{1}{3}}$, $z_- = \left(-\frac{t(t^2+3)}{2}-\sqrt{\left[\frac{t(t^2+3)}{2}\right]^2 + 1}\right)^{\frac{1}{3}}$, and writing $t = z_+ + z_-$, observe $z_+z_- = -1$, so $(x-z_+)(x-z_-) = x^2 - tx -1$, and then with Fundamental Theorem of Symmetric Polynomials, maybe calculating $(z_+^3 - z_-^3)^2$ and $(z_+^3 + z_-^3)$ in terms of $t$ would help ? 
 [/INST] By direct calculation we have the identity 
$a^3+b^3+c^3-3abc=(a+b+c)(a^2+b^2+c^2-ab-bc-ac).$ 
Then set $a=\sqrt[3]{-18+\sqrt{325}},b=\sqrt[3]{-18-\sqrt{325}}$ and $c=3$. Note that $ab=-1$ and $a^3+b^3=-36$, so $a^3+b^3+c^3=3abc$.
Since $(a-b)^2+(b-c)^2+(b-c)^2>0\Longleftrightarrow a^2+b^2+c^2-ab-bc-ac>0$ holds for any three distinct real numbers, we have that $a+b+c=0$, which means $$\sqrt[3]{-18+\sqrt{325}}+\sqrt[3]{-18-\sqrt{325}}=-3.$$
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