2017 AMC 10B Problems/Problem 4

Problem

Supposed that $x$ and $y$ are nonzero real numbers such that $\frac{3x+y}{x-3y}=-2$ . What is the value of $\frac{x+3y}{3x-y}$ ?

$\textbf{(A)}\ -3\qquad\textbf{(B)}\ -1\qquad\textbf{(C)}\ 1\qquad\textbf{(D)}\ 2\qquad\textbf{(E)}\ 3$

Solutions

Solution 1

Rearranging, we find $3x+y=-2x+6y$ , or $5x=5y\implies x=y$ . Substituting, we can convert the second equation into $\frac{x+3x}{3x-x}=\frac{4x}{2x}=\boxed{\textbf{(D)}\ 2}$ .

Solution 2

Substituting each $x$ and $y$ with $1$ , we see that the given equation holds true, as $\frac{3(1)+1}{1-3(1)} = -2$ . Thus, $\frac{x+3y}{3x-y}=\boxed{\textbf{(D)}\ 2}$

Solution 3

Let $y=ax$ . The first equation converts into $\frac{(3+a)x}{(1-3a)x}=-2$ , which simplifies to $3+a=-2(1-3a)$ . After a bit of algebra we found out $a=1$ , which means that $x=y$ . Substituting $y=x$ into the second equation it becomes $\frac{4x}{2x}=\boxed{\textbf{(D)}\ 2}$ - mathleticguyyy

2017 AMC 10B (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
Preceded by Problem 3	Followed by Problem 5
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All AMC 10 Problems and Solutions

2017 AMC 12B (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
Preceded by Problem 2	Followed by Problem 4
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All AMC 12 Problems and Solutions

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

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