1987 AJHSME Problems/Problem 6

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Problem

The smallest product one could obtain by multiplying two numbers in the set $\{ -7,-5,-1,1,3 \}$ is

$\text{(A)}\ -35 \qquad \text{(B)}\ -21 \qquad \text{(C)}\ -15 \qquad \text{(D)}\ -1 \qquad \text{(E)}\ 3$

Solution

To get the smallest possible product, we want to multiply the smallest negative number by the largest positive number. These are $-7$ and $3$ , respectively, and their product is $-21$ , which is $\boxed{\text{B}}$

1987 AJHSME (Problems • Resources)
Preceded by Problem 5	Followed by Problem 7
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1987 AJHSME Problems/Problem 6

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Problem

Solution

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