Question

HELPP MEEE PLEASEEEEE!

Answer 1

Let $a=x+\tfrac{5}{2}$. Then the expression $(x+1)(x+2)(x+3)(x+4)$ becomes $\left(a-\tfrac{3}{2}\right)\left(a-\tfrac{1}{2}\right)\left(a+\tfrac{1}{2}\right)\left(a+\tfrac{3}{2}\right)$.

We can now use the difference of two squares to get $\left(a^2-\tfrac{9}{4}\right)\left(a^2-\tfrac{1}{4}\right)$, and expand this to get $a^4-\tfrac{5}{2}a^2+\tfrac{9}{16}$.

Refactor this by completing the square to get $\left(a^2-\tfrac{5}{4}\right)^2-1$, which has a minimum value of $-1$.

Similar to Solution 1, grouping the first and last terms and the middle terms, we get $(x^2+5x+4)(x^2+5x+6)+2019$.

Letting $y=x^2+5x$, we get the expression $(y+4)(y+6)+2019$. Now, we can find the critical points of $(y+4)(y+6)$ to minimize the function:

$\frac{d}{dx}(y^2+10y+24)=0$

$2y+10=0$

$2y(y+5)=0$

$y=-5,0$

To minimize the result, we use $y=-5$. Hence, the minimum is $(-5+4)(-5+6)=-1$, so $-1+2019 = \boxed{\textbf{(B) }2018}$.

Note: We could also have used the result that minimum/maximum point of a parabola $y = ax^2 + bx + c$ occurs at $x=-\frac{b}{2a}$.

Solution 4

The expression is negative when an odd number of the factors are negative. This happens when $-2 < x < -1$ or $-4 < x < -3$. Plugging in $x = -\frac32$ or $x = -\frac72$ yields $-\frac{15}{16}$, which is very close to $-1$. Thus the answer is $-1 + 2019 = \boxed{\textbf{(B) }2018}$.

Solution 5 (using the answer choices)

Answer choices $C$, $D$, and $E$ are impossible, since $(x+1)(x+2)(x+3)(x+4)$ can be negative (as seen when e.g. $x = -\frac{3}{2}$). Plug in $x = -\frac{3}{2}$ to see that it becomes $2019 - \frac{15}{16}$, so round this to $\boxed{\textbf{(B) }2018}$.

We can also see that the limit of the function is at least -1 since at the minimum, two of the numbers are less than 1, but two are between 1 and 2.