Difference between revisions of "2020 AMC 10A Problems/Problem 3"

Revision as of 15:57, 16 June 2020

Problem

Assuming $a\neq3$ , $b\neq4$ , and $c\neq5$ , what is the value in simplest form of the following expression? $\frac{a-3}{5-c} \cdot \frac{b-4}{3-a} \cdot \frac{c-5}{4-b}$ $\textbf{(A) } -1 \qquad \textbf{(B) } 1 \qquad \textbf{(C) } \frac{abc}{60} \qquad \textbf{(D) } \frac{1}{abc} - \frac{1}{60} \qquad \textbf{(E) } \frac{1}{60} - \frac{1}{abc}$

Solution

Note that $a-3$ is $-1$ times $3-a$ . Likewise, $b-4$ is $-1$ times $4-b$ and $c-5$ is $-1$ times $5-c$ . Therefore, the product of the given fraction equals $(-1)(-1)(-1)=\boxed{\textbf{(A)}-1}$ .

Solution 2

Substituting values for $a, b,\text{and} c$ , we see that if each of them satify the inequalities above, the value goes to be $-1$ . Therefore, the product of the given fraction equals $(-1)(-1)(-1)=\boxed{\textbf{(A)}-1}$ .

Video Solution

https://youtu.be/WUcbVNy2uv0

~IceMatrix

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-3sl1pSojc

~bobthefam

https://youtu.be/ZccL6yKrTiU

~savannahsolver

2020 AMC 10A (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
Preceded by Problem 2	Followed by Problem 4
1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20 • 21 • 22 • 23 • 24 • 25
All AMC 10 Problems and Solutions

These problems are copyrighted © by the Mathematical Association of America, as part of the American Mathematics Competitions.

Page

Toolbox

Search