I have 2 numbers that satisfy the following properties:
The sum of these 2 numbers is equal to one of these numbers.
The difference between these 2 numbers is equal to one of these numbers.
The product of these 2 numbers is equal to one of these numbers.
Is it true that the ratio of these 2 numbers must be equal to one of these numbers as well?
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Suppose the two numbers are x , y . Now x = y = 0 satisfies the given conditions, but the ratio 0 0 is undefined, i.e., not (definitively) 0 , so the answer is No .
Comments: Out of interest, we'll determine all possible pairs x , y which satisfy the given three conditions. From the first condition we have that x + y equals one of x , y ; without loss of generality let x + y = x ⟹ y = 0 .
From the third condition we have that x y = 0 , which will hold for any x since y = 0 .
From the second condition we can have any of (i) x − 0 = x , a tautology, (ii) x − 0 = 0 ⟹ x = 0 , (iii) 0 − x = x ⟹ x = 0 or (iv) 0 − x = 0 ⟹ x = 0 .
So one of x , y must be 0 , but the other can be any real number. Now for x = 0 we could have the ratio being x 0 = 0 , which is indeed one of the two numbers, but as this is not the case when x = 0 we must conclude that the statement in question is not true for all cases.