Problem

1958 AHSME Problem 50

In this diagram a scheme is indicated for associating all the points of segment \overline{AB} with those of segment \overline{A'B'}, and reciprocally. To described this association scheme analytically, let x be the distance from a point P on \overline{AB} to D and let y be the distance from the associated point P' of \overline{A'B'} to D'. Then for any pair of associated points, if x = a,\, x + y equals:

[asy] draw((0,-3)--(0,3),black+linewidth(.75)); draw((1,-2.5)--(5,-2.5),black+linewidth(.75)); draw((3,2.5)--(4,2.5),black+linewidth(.75)); draw((1,-2.5)--(4,2.5),black+linewidth(.75)); draw((5,-2.5)--(3,2.5),black+linewidth(.75)); draw((2.6,-2.5)--(3.6,2.5),black+linewidth(.75)); dot((0,2.5));dot((1,2.5));dot((2,2.5));dot((3,2.5));dot((4,2.5));dot((5,2.5)); dot((0,-2.5));dot((1,-2.5));dot((2,-2.5));dot((3,-2.5));dot((4,-2.5));dot((5,-2.5)); MP("D",(0,2.5),NW);MP("A",(3,2.5),N);MP("P",(3.5,2.5),N);MP("B",(4,2.5),N); MP("D'",(0,-2.5),NW);MP("B'",(1,-2.5),NW);MP("P'",(2.25,-2.5),N);MP("A'",(5,-2.5),NE); MP("0",(0,2.5),SE);MP("1",(1,2.5),SE);MP("2",(2,2.5),SE);MP("3",(3,2.5),SE);MP("4",(4,2.5),SE);MP("5",(5,2.5),SE); MP("0",(0,-2.5),SE);MP("1",(1,-2.5),SE);MP("2",(2,-2.5),SE);MP("3",(3,-2.5),SE);MP("4",(4,-2.5),SE);MP("5",(5,-2.5),SE); [/asy]

\textbf{(A)}\ 13a\qquad \textbf{(B)}\ 17a - 51\qquad \textbf{(C)}\ 17 - 3a\qquad \textbf{(D)}\ \frac {17 - 3a}{4}\qquad \textbf{(E)}\ 12a - 34

Full credit goes to MAA for authoring these problems. These problems were taken on the AOPS website.


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Category: AHSME
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