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smc

geometry senior

Problem

Lines in the -plane are drawn through the point and the trisection points of the line segment joining the points and . One of these lines has the equation
(A)
(B)
(C)
(D)
(E)
Solution
The trisection points of and can be found by trisecting the x-coordinates and the y-coordinates separately. The difference of the x-coordinates is , so the trisection points happen at and , which are and . Similarly, the y-coordinates have a difference of , so the trisections happen at and . So, the two points are and . We now check which line has both and one of the two trisection points on it. Plugging in into all five of the equations works. The point doesn't work in any of the five lines. However, works in line . Thus, the answer is
Final answer
E