# Difference between revisions of "1958 AHSME Problems/Problem 23"

## Problem

If, in the expression $x^2 - 3$, $x$ increases or decreases by a positive amount of $a$, the expression changes by an amount:

$\textbf{(A)}\ {\pm 2ax + a^2}\qquad \textbf{(B)}\ {2ax \pm a^2}\qquad \textbf{(C)}\ {\pm a^2 - 3} \qquad \textbf{(D)}\ {(x + a)^2 - 3}\qquad\\ \textbf{(E)}\ {(x - a)^2 - 3}$

## Solution

Let us represent the increase or decrease in $x$ by $(x \pm a)$

Thus our original expression becomes $$(x \pm a)^2 - 3$$ $$x^2 \pm 2ax + a^2 - 3$$ The absolute difference between these two expressions is $\pm 2ax + a^2$ Therefore, the answer is $\fbox{(A) \pm 2ax + a^2}$ (Error compiling LaTeX. ! Missing \$ inserted.)

## See Also

 1958 AHSC (Problems • Answer Key • Resources) Preceded byProblem 22 Followed byProblem 24 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 • 26 • 27 • 28 • 29 • 30 • 31 • 32 • 33 • 34 • 35 • 36 • 37 • 38 • 39 • 40 • 41 • 42 • 43 • 44 • 45 • 46 • 47 • 48 • 49 • 50 All AHSME Problems and Solutions

The problems on this page are copyrighted by the Mathematical Association of America's American Mathematics Competitions.

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