Carcass wrote:
If z>1, then 2z2(z−1)+z−z2z(z−1)=
(A) 2z2−z
(B) 2z+1
(C) 2z
(D) 2z−1
(E) z−2
APPROACH #1: Algebra
Given:
2z2(z−1)+z−z2z(z−1)Rearrange the last two terms in the numerator:
2z2(z−1)−z2+zz(z−1) Factor out
−z from the last two terms of numerator:
2z2(z−1)−z(z−1)z(z−1)Rewrite the numerator as follows:
(2z2−z)(z−1)z(z−1) Simplify:
2z2−zz Finally, we can divide numerator and denominator by
z to get:
2z−1Answer: D
APPROACH #2: Test a value of z
Since we are looking for an expression that's
equivalent to
2z2(z−1)+z−z2z(z−1), let's first evaluate this expression for a certain value of
z, and then look for an answer choice that has the same value for that value of
zLet's see what happens when we plug
z=2 into the given expression:
2z2(z−1)+z−z2z(z−1)=2(22)(2−1)+2−222(2−1) =8+2−42 =62=3So, the given expression evaluates to equal
3 when
z=2.
We can now plug
z=2 into each answer choice to see which one evaluates to
3 (A)
2(22)−2=6. ELIMINATE
(B)
2(2)+1=5. ELIMINATE
(C)
2(2)=4. ELIMINATE
(D)
2(2)−1=3. KEEP
(E)
2−2=0. ELIMINATE
Answer: D