1950 AHSME Problems/Problem 38

Problem

If the expression $\begin{pmatrix}a & c\\ d & b\end{pmatrix}$ has the value $ab-cd$ for all values of $a, b, c$ and $d$ , then the equation $\begin{pmatrix}2x & 1\\ x & x\end{pmatrix}= 3$ :

$\textbf{(A)}\ \text{Is satisfied for only 1 value of }x\qquad\\ \textbf{(B)}\ \text{Is satisified for only 2 values of }x\qquad\\ \textbf{(C)}\ \text{Is satisified for no values of }x\qquad\\ \textbf{(D)}\ \text{Is satisfied for an infinite number of values of }x\qquad\\ \textbf{(E)}\ \text{None of these.}$

Solution

By $\begin{pmatrix}a & c\\ d & b\end{pmatrix}=ab-cd$ , we have $2x^2-x=3$ . Subtracting $3$ from both sides, giving $2x^2-x-3=0$ . This factors to $(2x-3)(x+1)=0$ . Thus, $x=\dfrac{3}{2},-1$ , so the equation is $\boxed{\textbf{(B)}\ \text{satisified for only 2 values of }x}$ .

1950 AHSME (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
Preceded by Problem 37	Followed by Problem 39
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1950 AHSME Problems/Problem 38

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