Question

Lucky Larry's teacher asked him to substitute numbers for $a,$ $b,$ $c,$ $d,$ and $e$ in the expression $a-(b-(c-(d+e)))$ and evaluate the result. Larry ignored the parentheses but added and subtracted correctly and obtained the correct result by coincidence. The number Larry substituted for $a,$ $b,$ $c,$ and $d$ were $1,$ $2,$ $3,$ and $4,$ respectively. What number did Larry substitute for $e?$

$-5$

$-3$

$0$

$3$

$5$

Solution:

Ignoring the parentheses, Larry would get $1 - 2 - 3 - 4 + e = e - 8.$

Evaluating with the parentheses, one would get $\begin{align*} &1 - (2 -(3 - (4 + e)))\\ & = 1 - (2 - (-1 - e))\\ &= 1 - (3 + e) \\ &=-2 - e.\end{align*}$

Both of these values are the same, so $e - 8 = -2 - e$ $e = 3.$

Thus, D is the correct answer.

2010 AMC 10B Problem 9

Solution:

Problem 9 in Other Years