Question k-x-58
In the given equation, is a constant. The equation has exactly one real solution. What is the minimum possible value of ?
k - x = 58 - x In the given equation, k is a constant. The
Hard-difficulty · SAT Math · Nonlinear Equations in One Variable — Absolute-value equations. Read the question above, select your answer, and check the full explanation below to understand exactly why the correct choice works.
Answer explanation
The correct answer is . It's given that . Squaring both sides of this equation yields , which is equivalent to the given equation if . It follows that if a solution to the equation satisfies , then it's also a solution to the given equation; if not, it's extraneous. The equation can be rewritten as . Adding to both sides of this equation yields . Subtracting from both sides of this equation yields . The number of solutions to a quadratic equation in the form , where , , and are constants, can be determined by the value of the discriminant, . Substituting for , for , and for in yields , or . The equation has exactly one real solution if the discriminant is equal to zero, or . Subtracting from both sides of this equation yields . Dividing both sides of this equation by yields . Therefore, if , then the equation has exactly one real solution. Substituting for in this equation yields , or , which is equivalent to . Taking the square root of both sides of this equation yields . Adding to both sides of this equation yields . To check whether this solution satisfies , the solution, , can be substituted for in , which yields , or . Since is greater than , it follows that if , or , then the given equation has exactly one real solution. If , then the discriminant, , is negative and the given equation has no solutions. Therefore, the minimum possible value of is .
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