2003 AMC 10A Problems/Problem 5

Problem

Let $d$ and $e$ denote the solutions of $2x^{2}+3x-5=0$ . What is the value of $(d-1)(e-1)$ ?

$\mathrm{(A) \ } -\frac{5}{2}\qquad \mathrm{(B) \ } 0\qquad \mathrm{(C) \ } 3\qquad \mathrm{(D) \ } 5\qquad \mathrm{(E) \ } 6$

Solution

Solution 1

Using factoring:

$2x^{2}+3x-5=0$

$(2x+5)(x-1)=0$

$x = -\frac{5}{2}$ or $x=1$

So $d$ and $e$ are $-\frac{5}{2}$ and $1$ .

Therefore the answer is $\left(-\frac{5}{2}-1\right)(1-1)=\left(-\frac{7}{2}\right)(0)=\boxed{\mathrm{(B)}\ 0}$

Solution 2

We can use the sum and product of a quadratic:

$(d-1)(e-1)=de-(d+e)+1 \implies\text{product}-\text{sum}+1 \implies \dfrac{c}{a}-\left(-\dfrac{b}{a}\right)+1 \implies \dfrac{b+c}{a}+1= \dfrac{5}{-5}+1=\boxed{\mathrm{(B)}\ 0}$

2003 AMC 10A (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
Preceded by Problem 4	Followed by Problem 6
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All AMC 10 Problems and Solutions

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2003 AMC 10A Problems/Problem 5

Contents

Problem

Solution

Solution 1

Solution 2

See Also