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2016 AMC 10A Problem 4

Problem 4 of 25EasierAlgebraArithmetic

The remainder function can be defined for all real numbers xx and yy with y≠0y \neq 0 by rem⁡(x,y)=x−y⌊xy⌋,\operatorname{rem}(x,y)=x-y\left\lfloor\frac{x}{y}\right\rfloor, where ⌊xy⌋\left \lfloor \frac{x}{y} \right \rfloor denotes the greatest integer less than or equal to xy.\frac{x}{y}. What is the value of rem(38,−25)?\text{rem} \left(\frac{3}{8}, -\frac{2}{5} \right)?

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Solution

Using the formula, we get rem(38,−25)=38+25⌊38−25⌋=38+25⌊−1516⌋=38+25⋅−1=38−25=−140 \begin{aligned} \text{rem} \left(\dfrac{3}{8}, -\dfrac{2}{5}\right) &= \dfrac{3}{8} \\ &{}+ \dfrac{2}{5} \left \lfloor \dfrac{\frac{3}{8}}{-\frac{2}{5}}\right \rfloor \\ &= \dfrac{3}{8} \\ &{}+ \dfrac{2}{5} \left \lfloor -\dfrac{15}{16} \right \rfloor \\ &= \dfrac{3}{8} + \dfrac{2}{5} \cdot -1 \\ &= \dfrac{3}{8} - \dfrac{2}{5} \\ &= - \dfrac{1}{40} \end{aligned} Thus, the correct answer is B .
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Tagged: floor and ceiling functions · fraction

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