1985 AJHSME Problems/Problem 1

Problem

$\frac{3\times 5}{9\times 11}\times \frac{7\times 9\times 11}{3\times 5\times 7}=$

$\text{(A)}\ 1 \qquad \text{(B)}\ 0 \qquad \text{(C)}\ 49 \qquad \text{(D)}\ \frac{1}{49} \qquad \text{(E)}\ 50$

Solution

We could go at it by just multiplying it out, dividing, etc, but there is a much more simple method.

Noticing that multiplying and dividing by the same number is the equivalent of multiplying (or dividing) by $1$ , we can rearrange the numbers in the numerator and the denominator (commutative property of multiplication) so that it looks like $\frac{3}{3} \times \frac{5}{5} \times \frac{7}{7} \times \frac{9}{9} \times \frac{11}{11}$

Notice that each number is still there, and nothing has been changed - other than the order.

Finally, since each fraction is equal to one, we have $1\times1\times1\times1\times1$ , which is equal to $1$ .

Thus, $\boxed{\text{A}}$ is the answer.

1985 AJHSME (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
Preceded by First Question	Followed by Problem 2
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1985 AJHSME Problems/Problem 1

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