2013 AMC 10B Problems/Problem 5
Problem
Positive integers and are each less than . What is the smallest possible value for ?
Solution
Factoring the equation gives . From this we can see that to obtain the least possible value, should be negative, and should be as small as possible. To do so, should be maximized. Because is negative, we should maximize the positive value of as well. The maximum values of both and are , so the answer is .
See also
2013 AMC 10B (Problems • Answer Key • Resources) | ||
Preceded by Problem 4 |
Followed by Problem 6 | |
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All AMC 10 Problems and Solutions |
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