Maths Olympiad Prep

Track / Stage 6 / 258 of 400 #1258 of 1964

Problem 1258

National olympiad, first round
Algebra Difficulty 6.4 Find the answer

Suppose that
2x3\minusx6 \frac {2x}{3} \minus{} \frac {x}{6} is an integer. Which of the following statements must be true about x x?

Pick one

Official solution

1. Start with the given expression:
2x3x6 \frac{2x}{3} - \frac{x}{6}

2. Find a common denominator to combine the fractions. The least common multiple of 3 and 6 is 6:
2x3=2x232=4x6 \frac{2x}{3} = \frac{2x \cdot 2}{3 \cdot 2} = \frac{4x}{6}
So the expression becomes:
4x6x6 \frac{4x}{6} - \frac{x}{6}

3. Combine the fractions:
4xx6=3x6 \frac{4x - x}{6} = \frac{3x}{6}

4. Simplify the fraction:
3x6=x2 \frac{3x}{6} = \frac{x}{2}

5. For x2\frac{x}{2} to be an integer, xx must be even. This is because dividing an even number by 2 results in an integer.

6. Therefore, xx must be even. There is no requirement for xx to be negative, a multiple of 3, 6, or 12.

Conclusion:
The correct statement about xx is that it is even, but not necessarily a multiple of 3, 6, or 12.

The final answer is (B)\boxed{\textbf{(B)}}

Source: NuminaMath-1.5, licensed Apache-2.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic, difficulty and ordering added by this site.