2017 AMC 10B Problems/Problem 3

Problem

Real numbers $x$, $y$, and $z$ satisfy the inequalities $0<x<1$, $-1<y<0$, and $1<z<2$. Which of the following numbers is necessarily positive?

$\textbf{(A)}\ y+x^2\qquad\textbf{(B)}\ y+xz\qquad\textbf{(C)}\ y+y^2\qquad\textbf{(D)}\ y+2y^2\qquad\textbf{(E)}\ y+z$

Solution

Notice that $y+z$ must be positive because $|z|>|y|$. Therefore the answer is $\boxed{\textbf{(E) } y+z}$.

The other choices:

$\textbf{(A)}$ As $x$ grows closer to $0$, $x^2$ decreases and thus becomes less than $y$.

$\textbf{(B)}$ $x$ can be as small as possible ($x>0$), so $xz$ grows close to $0$ as $x$ approaches $0$.

$\textbf{(C)}$ For all $-1<y<0$, $|y|>|y^2|$, and thus it is always negative.

$\textbf{(D)}$ The same logic as above, but when $-\frac{1}{2}<y<0$ this time.

Video Solution

https://youtu.be/BnkFy36V_WE

~savannahsolver

Video Solution by TheBeautyofMath

https://youtu.be/zTGuz6EoBWY?t=525

~IceMatrix

See Also

2017 AMC 10B (ProblemsAnswer KeyResources)
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
2017 AMC 12B (ProblemsAnswer KeyResources)
Preceded by
Problem 1
Followed by
Problem 3
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 12 Problems and Solutions

The problems on this page are copyrighted by the Mathematical Association of America's American Mathematics Competitions. AMC logo.png