1998 AJHSME Problems/Problem 2

Problem

If $\begin{tabular}{r|l}a&b \\ \hline c&d\end{tabular} = \text{a}\cdot \text{d} - \text{b}\cdot \text{c}$ , what is the value of $\begin{tabular}{r|l}3&4 \\ \hline 1&2\end{tabular}$ ?

$\text{(A)}\ -2 \qquad \text{(B)}\ -1 \qquad \text{(C)}\ 0 \qquad \text{(D)}\ 1 \qquad \text{(E)}\ 2$

Solution

Plugging in values for $a$ , $b$ , $c$ , and $d$ , we get

$a=3$ , $b=4$ , $c=1$ , $d=2$ ,

$a\timesd=3\times2=6$ (Error compiling LaTeX. Unknown error_msg)

$b\timesc=4\times1=4$ (Error compiling LaTeX. Unknown error_msg)

$6-4=2$

$\boxed{E}$

1998 AJHSME (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
Preceded by Problem 1	Followed by Problem 3
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1998 AJHSME Problems/Problem 2

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