Two positive rational numbers and , 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 ?
Solution
For fixed denominators (with sum 10), we maximize the sum of the fractions by giving the smaller denominator as large a numerator as possible: . Then, if , this quantity is at most , which is clearly smaller than the sum we get by setting , namely . So this is the answer.
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