1983 AHSME Problems/Problem 20

Problem 20

If $\tan{\alpha}$ and $\tan{\beta}$ are the roots of $x^2 - px + q = 0$ , and $\cot{\alpha}$ and $\cot{\beta}$ are the roots of $x^2 - rx + s = 0$ , then $rs$ is necessarily

$\textbf{(A)} \ pq \qquad \textbf{(B)} \ \frac{1}{pq} \qquad \textbf{(C)} \ \frac{p}{q^2} \qquad \textbf{(D)}\ \frac{q}{p^2}\qquad \textbf{(E)}\ \frac{p}{q}$

Solution

By Vieta's Formulae, we have $\tan(\alpha)\tan(\beta)=q$ and $\cot(\alpha)\cot(\beta)=s$ . Recalling that $\cot\theta=\frac{1}{\tan\theta}$ , we have $\frac{1}{\tan(\alpha)\tan(\beta)}=\frac{1}{q}=s$ .

Also by Vieta's Formulae, we have $\tan(\alpha)+\tan(\beta)=p$ and $\cot(\alpha)+\cot(\beta)=r$ , and again using $\cot\theta=\frac{1}{\tan\theta}$ , we have $\tan(\alpha)+\tan(\beta)=r(\tan(\alpha)\tan(\beta))$ . Using $\tan(\alpha)\tan(\beta)=q$ and $\tan(\alpha)+\tan(\beta)=p$ , we therefore deduce that $r=\frac{p}{q}$ , which yields $rs = \frac{1}{q}\cdot\frac{p}{q}=\frac{p}{q^2}$ .

Thus, the answer is $\boxed{\textbf{(C)} \ \frac{p}{q^2}}$ .

1983 AHSME (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
Preceded by Problem 19	Followed by Problem 21
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
All AHSME Problems and Solutions

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

Page

Toolbox

Search

1983 AHSME Problems/Problem 20

Problem 20

Solution

See Also