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According to the answers section, no. Can someone tell me where I went wrong?
I have a feeling the subtraction bit is wrong, can someone help me plz.
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Yes, you're right. You made a mistake when you did the subtraction.
You were meant to get ay-by = a-b.
Unfortunately, following that through gets you to y = (a-b)/(a-b), which is undefined. So either the problem is unsolvable, or you made another mistake somewhere else. I can't see any other mistakes though.
Edit: I just worked it through myself and got to the same place. So I'd say it's impossible. You could write y in another form, like 2-x, but you can't have it in terms of a and b.
Why did the vector cross the road?
It wanted to be normal.
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Thanks mathsyperson
(woops)
Last edited by Toast (2006-10-18 01:07:43)
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Unfortunately, following that through gets you to y = (a-b)/(a-b), which is undefined.
(a-b)/(a-b) is only undefined for a = b... otherwise it's just 1.
If a = b, then the second to last line of the original post (with correction) becomes:
y(a-a)=a-a
y(0)=0.
Then y is a free variable. It can take any value, and x = 2 - y is a solution for any y.
Bad speling makes me [sic]
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Thanks dross
Credit goes to mathsyperson, I'm afraid. Now you can thank me, though
Bad speling makes me [sic]
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lol sorry, i didn't look properly at who wrote the message
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Oh, silly me. Of course (a-b)/(a-b) = 1. I must have been in a hurry or something. Sorry!
Why did the vector cross the road?
It wanted to be normal.
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