Andrew's three symmetric numbers

Algebra Level 3

Andrew was playing with three numbers a , b a,b and c c .
First, he subtracted b b from the sum of other two and got 1,
then he subtracted c c from the sum of other two and got 2,
then he subtracted a a from the sum of other two and got 3.

Then, Andrew challenged his friends to find the value of b + c a \dfrac{b+c}{a} . So what is the value of b + c a \dfrac{b+c}{a} ?


The answer is 3.0.

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2 solutions

Rohit Udaiwal
Mar 29, 2016

As per the question,we get these equations: a + c b = 1 ( 1 ) a + b c = 2 ( 2 ) b + c a = 3 ( 3 ) \begin{aligned} a+c-b= & 1 \quad \quad \quad \ldots (1) \\ a+b-c= & 2 \quad \quad \quad \ldots (2) \\ b+c-a= & 3 \quad \quad \quad \ldots (3) \end{aligned} Adding ( 1 ) (1) and ( 2 ) (2) ,we get a + c b + a + b c = 1 + 2 2 a = 3 a = 3 2 \begin{aligned} a+c-b+a+b-c= & 1+2 \\ \implies 2a= & 3 \\ \therefore a= & \dfrac{3}{2} \end{aligned} Adding ( 2 ) (2) and ( 3 ) (3) ,we get a + b c + b + c a = 2 + 3 2 b = 5 b = 5 2 \begin{aligned} a+b-c+b+c-a= & 2+3 \\ \implies 2b= & 5 \\ \therefore b= & \dfrac{5}{2} \end{aligned} Adding ( 1 ) (1) and ( 3 ) (3) ,we get a + c b + b + c a = 1 + 3 2 c = 4 c = 2 \begin{aligned} a+c-b+b+c-a= & 1+3\\ \implies 2c= & 4 \\ \therefore c= & 2 \end{aligned} Now when we have got the three numbers,we can calculate the required value as b + c a = 5 2 + 2 3 2 = 3 \dfrac{b+c}{a}=\dfrac{\frac{5}{2}+2}{\frac{3}{2}}=\boxed{3}

We don't need to find all values. Add all equations to get a+b+c=6. Then find a from 3rd equation. So from the equation we will see that b+c/a=1+3/a.

Kushagra Sahni - 5 years, 2 months ago

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Thats smart.

Nihar Mahajan - 5 years, 2 months ago

Wow,thanks for the easy approach: P

Rohit Udaiwal - 5 years, 2 months ago
Ankit Nigam
Mar 29, 2016

Yes as @Kushagra Sahni said :- a + c b = 1 ( 1 ) a + b c = 2 ( 2 ) b + c a = 3 ( 3 ) \begin{aligned} a + c - b = 1 \cdots (1) \\ a + b - c = 2 \cdots (2) \\ b + c - a = 3 \cdots (3) \end{aligned} Now adding all the equations we get, a + b + c = 6 b + c = 6 a ( 4 ) \begin{aligned} &a + b + c = 6 \\ &b + c = 6 - a \cdots (4) \end{aligned} From ( 3 ) (3) we get b + c = 3 + a b + c = 3 + a

\therefore from ( 3 ) (3) and ( 4 ) (4) a = 3 2 a = \dfrac{3}{2}

b + c a = 6 a a = 9 3 = 3 \therefore \dfrac{b + c}{a} = \dfrac{6 - a}{a} = \dfrac{9}{3} = 3

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