1958 AMC 12 Problem 4

Attempt Problem 4 of the 1958 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 1958 AMC 12 solutions, or check the answer key.

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

4.

In the expression x+1x−1,\dfrac{x+1}{x-1}, each xx is replaced by x+1x−1.\dfrac{x+1}{x-1}. The resulting expression, evaluated for x=12,x=\dfrac12, equals:
33
−3-3
11
−1-1
none of these
Answer: E
Concepts:functionalgebraic manipulationrational equation
Small hint:
Let f(x)=x+1x−1f(x)=\frac{x+1}{x-1} and simplify f(f(x))f(f(x))
Big hint:
Combine the numerator and denominator of the composed fraction separately
Solution:
Let f(x)=x+1x−1.f(x)=\frac{x+1}{x-1}. Then f(f(x))=x+1x−1+1x+1x−1−1=2xx−12x−1=x. \begin{aligned} f(f(x)) &=\frac{\frac{x+1}{x-1}+1} {\frac{x+1}{x-1}-1}\\ &=\frac{\frac{2x}{x-1}}{\frac{2}{x-1}} =x. \end{aligned} At x=12,x=\frac{1}{2}, the value is 12,\frac{1}{2}, which is not listed.
Therefore, the correct answer is E.
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