16Hit1600
AlgebraVery hardCounting integers in an absolute-value band

Algebra practice question

How many integer values of x satisfy 2 ≤ |x − 3| ≤ 5?

Answer: 8

|x − 3| between 2 and 5 means x − 3 is in [−5, −2] or [2, 5], so x is in {−2, −1, 0, 1} or {5, 6, 7, 8}: 8 integers.

Common wrong answers

If you answered 4
4 counts only one of the two bands.
If you answered 7
7 drops an endpoint; both ≤ signs include their endpoints.
If you answered 10
10 wrongly includes x = 2, 3, 4, where |x − 3| < 2.

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