Maths Olympiad Prep

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, 2014

Algebra Difficulty 1.4 Junior Find the answer Canada

A line segment of length 5 lies along the number line initially between 1 and 6.

Figure 0

The line segment is rotated 180180^\circ about the point at 2. The resulting line segment lies between 2-2 and 3. This segment is then rotated 180180^\circ about the point at 1. The resulting line segment lies between

Pick one

Solution

After the first rotation, the line segment lies between 2-2 and 3. [[IMAGE0]] The line segment is now to be rotated about the point at 1. Since the right endpoint of the segment is 2 units to the right of 1 before the rotation, then the left endpoint of the segment will be 2 units to the left of 1 after the rotation. Thus, the left endpoint will be at 1-1. Since the line segment has length 5, then its right endpoint will be at 1+5=4-1+5=4. [[IMAGE1]] Thus, the line segment lies between 1-1 and 4.

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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.