2019 AMC 8 Problems/Problem 3

Revision as of 14:49, 27 November 2019 by Dolphin7 (talk | contribs) (Solution 2)

Problem 3

Which of the following is the correct order of the fractions $\frac{15}{11},\frac{19}{15},$ and $\frac{17}{13},$ from least to greatest?

$\textbf{(A) }\frac{15}{11}< \frac{17}{13}< \frac{19}{15}  \qquad\textbf{(B) }\frac{15}{11}< \frac{19}{15}<\frac{17}{13}    \qquad\textbf{(C) }\frac{17}{13}<\frac{19}{15}<\frac{15}{11}    \qquad\textbf{(D) } \frac{19}{15}<\frac{15}{11}<\frac{17}{13}   \qquad\textbf{(E) }   \frac{19}{15}<\frac{17}{13}<\frac{15}{11}$

Solution 1

Consider subtracting 1 from each of the fractions. Our new fractions would then be $\frac{4}{11}, \frac{4}{15},$ and $\frac{4}{13}$. Since $\frac{4}{15}<\frac{4}{13}<\frac{4}{11}$, it follows that the answer is $\boxed{\textbf{(E)}\frac{19}{15}<\frac{17}{13}<\frac{15}{11}}$

-will3145

Solution 2

We take a common denominator: \[\frac{15}{11},\frac{19}{15}, \frac{17}{13} = \frac{15\cdot 15 \cdot 13}{11\cdot 15 \cdot 13},\frac{19 \cdot 11 \cdot 13}{15\cdot 11 \cdot 13}, \frac{17 \cdot 11 \cdot 15}{13\cdot 11 \cdot 15} = \frac{2925}{2145},\frac{2717}{2145},\frac{2805}{2145}.\]

Since $2717<2805<2925$ it follows that the answer is $\boxed{\textbf{(E)}\frac{19}{15}<\frac{17}{13}<\frac{15}{11}}$.

-xMidnightFirex

~ dolphin7 - I took your idea and made it an explanation.

See Also

2019 AMC 8 (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 AJHSME/AMC 8 Problems and Solutions

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