2014 AMC 10B Problems/Problem 9

Problem

For real numbers $w$ and $z$ , $\cfrac{\frac{1}{w} + \frac{1}{z}}{\frac{1}{w} - \frac{1}{z}} = 2014.$ What is $\frac{w+z}{w-z}$ ?

$\textbf{(A) }-2014\qquad\textbf{(B) }\frac{-1}{2014}\qquad\textbf{(C) }\frac{1}{2014}\qquad\textbf{(D) }1\qquad\textbf{(E) }2014$

Solution

Multiply the numerator and denominator of the LHS by $wz$ to get $\frac{z+w}{z-w}=2014$ . Then since $z+w=w+z$ and $w-z=-(z-w)$ , $\frac{w+z}{w-z}=-\frac{z+w}{z-w}=-2014$ , or choice $\boxed{A}$ .

Solution 2

Muliply both sides by $\left(\frac{1}{w}-\frac{1}{z}\right)$ to get $\frac{1}{w}+\frac{1}{z}=2014\left(\frac{1}{w}-\frac{1}{z}\right)$ . Then, add $2014\cdot\frac{1}{z}$ to both sides and subtract $\frac{1}{w}$ from both sides to get $2015\cdot\frac{1}{z}=2013\cdot\frac{1}{w}$ . Then, we can plug in the most simply values for z and w ( $2015$ and $2013$ , respectively, and find $\frac{2013+2015}{2013-2015}=\frac{2(2014)}{-2}=-2014$ , oranswer choice $\boxed{A}$ .

Video Solution

https://youtu.be/6Uh77bue0bE

~savannahsolver

2014 AMC 10B (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
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2014 AMC 10B Problems/Problem 9

Contents

Problem

Solution

Solution 2

Video Solution

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