2010 AMC 12B Problem 5
Problem 5 of 25EasierAlgebra
Lucky Larry’s teacher asked him to substitute numbers for and in the expression and evaluate the result. Larry ignored the parentheses but added and subtracted correctly and obtained the correct result by coincidence. The numbers Larry substituted for and were and respectively. What number did Larry substitute for
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Solution
The correct value is With this equals
Larry dropped the parentheses and computed
Setting gives so
Thus, the correct answer is D.