In the problem it said that the left side had a factor of (ax^2+b). When I set x1 equal to random(10), that makes sense to me but how can you just assign "a" a number when you dont know it actually and how does that magically just make them all whole numbers. Please help.

June SAT done. Back to the grind. Answer to yesterday's was B. Thanks to @Neno N (and OnePrep) for the question!

Answer to the previous one was 72. New question: Scholars sometimes describe community fish-sorting rituals on the Pacific Northwest coast as a practical solution to storing food: each household receives a share, and the catch is preserved for winter. Interviews with participants, though, rarely dwell on those efficiencies; instead, people describe who may touch the first salmon and which songs must be performed before any cutting begins. ______ the ritual's rules are not mere ornamentation but the mechanism that makes sharing legitimate. A) Specifically, B) Alternatively, C) Rather, D) Hence,

Answer to yesterday's was C. Challenge results: @Jason Parton advances over Mehanth. @Shiny Av advances over Divit. Very good rounds today. Very close for all of them, really within just a couple of questions of each other. Am confident I calculated correctly for all of them, according to the rules. Tomorrow is actually the final day of Octofinals: @C Delaney v @Solavita Noor @Habiba Basir v @Shubho Mehedi

Answer to 3/27's was D. Good explanations on that post!