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Algebra Difficulty 2.2 Junior Find the answer

An integer xx is chosen so that 3x+13 x+1 is an even integer. Which of the following must be an odd integer?

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

Solution

If xx is an integer for which 3x+13 x+1 is even, then 3x3 x is odd, since it is 1 less than an even integer. If 3x3 x is odd, then xx must be odd (since if xx is even, then 3x3 x would be even). If xx is odd, then 7x7 x is odd (odd times odd equals odd) and so 7x+47 x+4 is odd (odd plus even equals odd). Therefore, the one expression which must be odd is 7x+47 x+4.

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Source: Omni-MATH, licensed Apache-2.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic and difficulty added by this site.