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2018 AMC 10A Problems/Problem 12

Revision as of 20:06, 9 February 2018 by Vedadehhc (talk | contribs)

How many ordered pairs of real numbers $(x,y)$ satisfy the following system of equations? \[x+3y=3\] \[\big||x|-|y|\big|=1\] $\textbf{(A) } 1 \qquad \textbf{(B) } 2 \qquad \textbf{(C) } 3 \qquad \textbf{(D) } 4 \qquad \textbf{(E) } 8$

Solutions

Solution 1

The graph looks something like this: [asy] draw((-3,0)--(3,0), Arrows); draw((0,-3)--(0,3), Arrows); draw((2,3)--(0,1)--(-2,3), blue); draw((-3,2)--(-1,0)--(-3,-2), blue); draw((-2,-3)--(0,-1)--(2,-3), blue); draw((3,-2)--(1,0)--(3,2), blue); draw((-3,2)--(3,0), red); dot((-3,2)); dot((3/2,1/2)); dot((0,1)); [/asy] Now, it becomes clear that there are $\boxed{\textbf{(C) } 3}$ intersection points. (pinetree1)

Solution 2

$x+3y=3$ can be rewritten to $x=3-3y$. Substituting $3-3y$ for $x$ in the second equation will give $||3-3y|-y|=1$. Splitting this question into casework for the ranges of y will give us the total number of solutions.

$\textbf{Case 1:}$ $y>1$ $3-3y$ will be negative so $|3-3y| = 3y-3.$ $|3y-3-y| = |2y-3| = 1$ 

   Subcase 1: $y>\frac{3}{2}$

$2y-3$ is positive so $2y-3 = 1$ and $y = 2$ and $x = 3-3(2) = -3$ 

   Subcase 2: $1<y<\frac{3}{2}$

$2y-3$ is negative so $|2y-3| = 3-2y = 1$. $2y = 2$ and so there are no solutions ($y$ can't equal to $1$)

$\textbf{Case 2:}$ $y = 1$ It is fairly clear that $x = 0.$

$\textbf{Case 3:}$ $y<1$ $3-3y$ will be positive so $|3-3y-y| = |3-4y| = 1$ 

   Subcase 1: $y>\frac{4}{3}$

$3-4y$ will be negative so $4y-3 = 1$ \rightarrow $4y = 4$. There are no solutions (again, $y$ can't equal to $1$) 

   Subcase 2: $y<\frac{4}{3}$

$3-4y$ will be positive so $3-4y = 1$ \rightarrow $4y = 2$. $y = \frac{1}{2}$ and $x = \frac{3}{2}$. Thus, the solutions are: $(-3,2), (0,1), \left(\frac{3}{2},\frac{1}{2} \right)$, and the answer is $\boxed{\textbf{(C) } 3}$. Solution by Danny Li JHS, $\text{\LaTeX}$ edit by pretzel.

Solution 3

Note that ||x| - |y|| can take on either of four values: x + y, x - y, -x + y, -x -y. Solving the equations (by elimination, either adding the two equations or subtracting), we obtain the three solutions: $(0, 1)$, $(-2,3)$, $(1.5, 0.5)$ so the answer is $\boxed{\textbf{(C) } 3}$.

See Also

2018 AMC 10A (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
Preceded by
Problem 11 		Followed by
Problem 13
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
2018 AMC 12A (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
Preceded by
Problem 9 		Followed by
Problem 11
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

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