1957 AMC 12 Problem 5

Attempt Problem 5 of the 1957 AMC 12 below, then check your answer against the professionally curated solution from LIVE by Po-Shen Loh. You can also try the full timed exam, view all 1957 AMC 12 solutions, or check the answer key.

All problems are used with official legal permission of the Mathematical Association of America (MAA).

5.

Through the use of theorems on logarithms, log⁡ab+log⁡bc+log⁡cd−log⁡aydx\log\dfrac ab+\log\dfrac bc+\log\dfrac cd-\log\dfrac{ay}{dx} can be reduced to:
log⁡yx\log\dfrac yx
log⁡xy\log\dfrac xy
11
00
log⁡a2yd2x\log\dfrac{a^2y}{d^2x}
Answer: B
Concepts:logarithmtelescopingalgebraic manipulation
Small hint:
Combine the first three logarithms by multiplying their arguments
Big hint:
The product (ab)(bc)(cd) (\frac{a}{b})(\frac{b}{c})(\frac{c}{d}) telescopes to ad\frac{a}{d}
Solution:
Combining the logarithms gives log⁡(abbccddxay)=log⁡(addxay)=log⁡xy. \begin{aligned} &\log\left(\frac ab\frac bc\frac cd\frac{dx}{ay}\right)\\ &\quad=\log\left(\frac ad\frac{dx}{ay}\right)\\ &\quad=\log\frac xy. \end{aligned}
Therefore, the correct answer is B.
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