Variant idea: Factor the high‑degree polynomial into a cubic times a strictly positive sextic, proving that the cubic’s roots are the only real solutions.
informal
matches a reference family
The equation
(x^3 + a)^3 + a = x
can be rewritten as
(x^3 + a)^3 + a - x = 0.
Expanding the left‑hand side one obtains the factorisation
(x^3 + a)^3 + a - x = (x^3 + a - x)(x^6 + 3x^4 + 3x^2 + 1).
The sextic factor is strictly positive for every real \(x\) because it equals \((x^2+1)^3\). Consequently the product can be zero only when the cubic factor vanishes. Thus the real solutions of the original equation are exactly the real roots of the cubic polynomial
x^3 - x + a = 0.
For any real parameter \(a\) this cubic has either one or three real roots depending on its discriminant; all of them satisfy the original equation, and no other real number does. Hence the set of solutions is complete.