Maths Olympiad Prep

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Algebra Difficulty 5.1 AIME, harder Find the answer

Two positive rational numbers xx and yy, when written in lowest terms, have the property that the sum of their numerators is 9 and the sum of their denominators is 10 . What is the largest possible value of x+yx+y ?

A number or a short expression. Spacing and $ signs are ignored.

Solution

For fixed denominators a<ba<b (with sum 10), we maximize the sum of the fractions by giving the smaller denominator as large a numerator as possible: 8/a+1/b8 / a+1 / b. Then, if a2a \geq 2, this quantity is at most 8/2+1/1=58 / 2+1 / 1=5, which is clearly smaller than the sum we get by setting a=1a=1, namely 8/1+1/9=73/98 / 1+1 / 9=73 / 9. So this is the answer.

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