IMO Practice Test — Ratio and Proportion

6 Questions • 15 min • Olympiad level

15:00
Question 1 of 6 medium
Find two numbers whose mean proportional is 12 and third proportional is 96.
6,18
6,24
8,18
8,24
Explanation: Let the numbers be $a$ and $b$. Mean proportional: $\sqrt{ab}=12 \Rightarrow ab=144$. Third proportional: $\frac{b^{2}}{a}=96$. Substituting $a=\frac{144}{b}$ gives $\frac{b^{3}}{144}=96 \Rightarrow b^{3}=13824 \Rightarrow b=24$, and then $a=6$. The numbers are $6$ and $24$.