2021 Fall AMC 10A Problems/Problem 14

Problem

How many ordered pairs $(x,y)$ of real numbers satisfy the following system of equations? $\begin{align*} x^2+3y&=9 \\ (|x|+|y|-4)^2 &= 1 \end{align*}$ $\textbf{(A) } 1 \qquad\textbf{(B) } 2 \qquad\textbf{(C) } 3 \qquad\textbf{(D) } 5 \qquad\textbf{(E) } 7$

Solution 1 (Graphing)

The second equation is $(|x|+|y| - 4)^2 = 1$ . We know that the graph of $|x| + |y|$ is a very simple diamond shape, so let's see if we can reduce this equation to that form: $(|x|+|y| - 4)^2 = 1 \implies |x|+|y| - 4 = \pm 1 \implies |x|+|y| = \{3,5\}.$ We now have two separate graphs for this equation and one graph for the first equation, so let's put it on the coordinate plane: $[asy] Label f; f.p=fontsize(6); xaxis(-8,8,Ticks(f, 1.0,0.5)); yaxis(-8,8,Ticks(f, 1.0,0.5)); real f(real x) { return 3-x; } draw(graph(f,0,3)); real f(real x) { return 3+x; } draw(graph(f,0,-3)); real f(real x) { return x-3; } draw(graph(f,0,3)); real f(real x) { return -x-3; } draw(graph(f,0,-3)); real f(real x) { return 5-x; } draw(graph(f,0,5)); real f(real x) { return 5+x; } draw(graph(f,0,-5)); real f(real x) { return x-5; } draw(graph(f,0,5)); real f(real x) { return -x-5; } draw(graph(f,0,-5)); real f(real x) { return 3-x; } draw(graph(f,0,3)); real f(real x) { return 3+x; } draw(graph(f,0,-3)); real f(real x) { return x-3; } draw(graph(f,0,3)); real f(real x) { return (-x^2)/3+3; } draw(graph(f,-5,5)); [/asy]$ We see from the graph that there are $5$ intersections, so the answer is $\boxed{\textbf{(D) } 5}$ .

~KingRavi

Video Solution (HOW TO THINK CREATIVELY!!!)

https://youtu.be/yASY-XL9vtI

~Education, the Study of Everything

Video Solution

https://youtu.be/zq3UPu4nwsE?t=974

Video Solution by WhyMath

https://youtu.be/5SVmxNrZUbY

~savannahsolver

2021 Fall AMC 10A (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
All AMC 10 Problems and Solutions

Page

Toolbox

Search