2000 AMC 10 Problems/Problem 10

Problem

The sides of a triangle with positive area have lengths $4$, $6$, and $x$. The sides of a second triangle with positive area have lengths $4$, $6$, and $y$. What is the smallest positive number that is not a possible value of $|x-y|$?

$\textbf{(A)}\ 2 \qquad\textbf{(B)}\ 4 \qquad\textbf{(C)}\ 6 \qquad\textbf{(D)}\ 8 \qquad\textbf{(E)}\ 10$

Solution

Since $6$ and $4$ are fixed sides, the smallest possible side has to be larger than $6-4=2$ and the largest possible side has to be smaller than $6+4=10$. This gives us the triangle inequality $2<x<10$ and $2<y<10$. $7$ can be attained by letting $x=9.1$ and $y=2.1$. However, $8=10-2$ cannot be attained. Thus, the answer is $\boxed{\bold{D}}$.

See Also

2000 AMC 10 (ProblemsAnswer KeyResources)
Preceded by
Problem 9
Followed by
Problem 11
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All AMC 10 Problems and Solutions

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