# Difference between revisions of "2017 AMC 10B Problems/Problem 3"

## Problem

Real numbers $x$, $y$, and $z$ satify the inequalities $0, $-1, and $1. Which of the following numbers is necessarily positive?

$\textbf{(A)}\ y+x^2\qquad\textbf{(B)}\ y+xz\qquad\textbf{(C)}\ y+y^2\qquad\textbf{(D)}\ y+2y^2\qquad\textbf{(E)}\ y+z$

## Solution

Notice that $y+z$ must be positive because $|z|>|y|$. Therefore the answer is $\boxed{\textbf{(E) } y+z}$.

The other choices:

$\textbf{(A)}$ As $x$ grows closer to $0$, $x^2$ decreases and thus becomes less than $y$.

$\textbf{(B)}$ $x$ can be as small as possible ($x>0$), so $xz$ grows close to $0$ as $x$ approaches $0$.

$\textbf{(C)}$ For all $-1, $y>y^2$, and thus it is always negative.

$\textbf{(D)}$ The same logic as above, but when $-\frac{1}{2} this time.

 2017 AMC 10B (Problems • Answer Key • Resources) Preceded byProblem 2 Followed byProblem 4 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