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Difference between revisions of "1959 AHSME Problems/Problem 14"

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== Problem ==
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Given the set <math>S</math> whose elements are zero and the even integers, positive and negative. Of the five operations applied to any pair of elements: (1) addition (2) subtraction (3) multiplication (4) division (5) finding the arithmetic mean (average), those elements that only yield elements of <math>S</math> are: <math>\textbf{(A)}\ \text{all} \qquad\textbf{(B)}\ 1,2,3,4\qquad\textbf{(C)}\ 1,2,3,5\qquad\textbf{(D)}\ 1,2,3\qquad\textbf{(E)}\ 1,3,5</math>
 
Given the set <math>S</math> whose elements are zero and the even integers, positive and negative. Of the five operations applied to any pair of elements: (1) addition (2) subtraction (3) multiplication (4) division (5) finding the arithmetic mean (average), those elements that only yield elements of <math>S</math> are: <math>\textbf{(A)}\ \text{all} \qquad\textbf{(B)}\ 1,2,3,4\qquad\textbf{(C)}\ 1,2,3,5\qquad\textbf{(D)}\ 1,2,3\qquad\textbf{(E)}\ 1,3,5</math>
  

Latest revision as of 12:59, 16 July 2024

Problem

Given the set $S$ whose elements are zero and the even integers, positive and negative. Of the five operations applied to any pair of elements: (1) addition (2) subtraction (3) multiplication (4) division (5) finding the arithmetic mean (average), those elements that only yield elements of $S$ are: $\textbf{(A)}\ \text{all} \qquad\textbf{(B)}\ 1,2,3,4\qquad\textbf{(C)}\ 1,2,3,5\qquad\textbf{(D)}\ 1,2,3\qquad\textbf{(E)}\ 1,3,5$

Solution

The first three listed operations, applied to even integers, all yield even integers trivially. As for the fourth operation (division) and fifth operation (average of pair), we can find pairs of even numbers that are mapped to odd integers, such as $\frac{2}{2} = 1$, and $\frac{0+2}{2} = 1$. Therefore, the operations that map even integers to even integers only are operations $1, 2, 3$, so our answer is $\boxed{\textbf{(D)}}$ and we are done.

See also

1959 AHSC (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
Preceded by
Problem 13 		Followed by
Problem 15
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 • 26 • 27 • 28 • 29 • 30 • 31 • 32 • 33 • 34 • 35 • 36 • 37 • 38 • 39 • 40 • 41 • 42 • 43 • 44 • 45 • 46 • 47 • 48 • 49 • 50
All AHSME Problems and Solutions

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