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Algebra Difficulty 3.1 AMC 10/12 Find the answer

For which of the following values of kk does the equation x1x2=xkx6\frac{x-1}{x-2} = \frac{x-k}{x-6} have no solution for xx?

Pick one

Solution

The domain over which we solve the equation is R{2,6}\mathbb{R} \setminus \{2,6\}.
We can now cross-multiply to get rid of the fractions, we get (x1)(x6)=(xk)(x2)(x-1)(x-6)=(x-k)(x-2).
Simplifying that, we get 7x6=(k+2)x2k7x-6 = (k+2)x - 2k. Clearly for k=5k=5 we get the equation 6=10-6=-10 which is never true. The answer is (E) 5\boxed{\mathrm{ (E)}\ 5}
For other kk, one can solve for xx: x(5k)=62kx(5-k) = 6-2k, hence x=62k5kx=\frac {6-2k}{5-k}. We can easily verify that for none of the other 4 possible values of kk is this equal to 22 or 66, hence there is a solution for xx in each of the other cases.
-Edited by XxHalo711 (typo within the solution)

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