2003 AMC 10B Problems/Problem 24

Problem

The ﬁrst four terms in an arithmetic sequence are $x+y$ , $x-y$ , $xy$ , and $\frac{x}{y}$ , in that order. What is the ﬁfth term?

$\textbf{(A)}\ -\frac{15}{8}\qquad\textbf{(B)}\ -\frac{6}{5}\qquad\textbf{(C)}\ 0\qquad\textbf{(D)}\ \frac{27}{20}\qquad\textbf{(E)}\ \frac{123}{40}$

Solution

The difference between consecutive terms is $(x-y)-(x+y)=-2y.$ Therefore we can also express the third and fourth terms as $x-3y$ and $x-5y.$ Then we can set them equal to $xy$ and $\frac{x}{y}$ because they are the same thing.

$\begin{align*} xy&=x-3y\\ xy-x&=-3y\\ x(y-1)&=-3y\\ x&=\frac{-3y}{y-1} \end{align*}$

Substitute into our other equation.

\begin{align*}
\frac{x}{y}&=x-5y\\
\frac{-3}{y-1}&=\frac{-3y}{y-1}-5y\\
-3&=-3y-5y(y-1)\\
0&=5y^2-2y-3\\
0&=(5y+3)(y-1)\\
y&=-\frac35, 1 (Error compiling LaTeX. Unknown error_msg)

But $y$ cannot be $1$ because then every term would be equal to $x.$ Therefore $y=-\frac35.$ Substituting the value for $y$ into any of the equations, we get $x=-\frac98.$ Finally,

$\frac{x}{y}-2y=\frac{9\cdot 5}{8\cdot 3}+\frac{6}{5}=\boxed{\textbf{(E)}\ \frac{123}{40}}$

2003 AMC 10B (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
Preceded by Problem 23	Followed by Problem 25
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
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2003 AMC 10B Problems/Problem 24

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