Maths Olympiad Prep

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Algebra Difficulty 1.3 Junior Find the answer Canada

The line with equation y=2x6y=2x-6 is translated upwards by 4 units. (That is, every point on the line is translated upwards by 4 units, forming a new line.) The xx-intercept of the resulting line is

33
32\frac{3}{2}
44
11
22

A number or a short expression. Fractions can be typed as 3/2, and spacing doesn't matter.

Solution

The line with equation y=2x6y=2x-6 has slope 2. When this line is translated, the slope does not change.

The line with equation y=2x6y=2x-6 has yy-intercept 6-6. When this line is translated upwards by 4 units, its yy-intercept is translated upwards by 4 units and so becomes 2-2.

This means that the new line has equation y=2x2y = 2x-2.

To find its xx-intercept, we set y=0y=0 to obtain 0=2x20 = 2x - 2 and so 2x=22x = 2 or x=1x=1.

Thus, the xx-intercept is 1.

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Source: CEMC, University of Waterloo, licensed CC-BY-NC-4.0. Statement reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.