Problem:
Cindy was asked by her teacher to subtract from a certain number and then divide the result by . Instead, she subtracted and then divided the result by , giving an answer of . What would her answer have been had she worked the problem correctly?
Answer Choices:
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
Solution:
Let be the number she was given. Her calculations produce
so
The correct answer is
Answer: .
The problems on this page are the property of the MAA's American Mathematics Competitions