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absolute value

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by jaspreetsra » Tue Oct 07, 2014 12:18 am
Is it C?
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by jaspreetsra » Tue Oct 07, 2014 12:19 am
Is it C?
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by bkleo » Sun May 03, 2015 4:23 am
Is |x| + |y| = 0?

|x| + |y| = 0, only possible when x=y=0. and if x=y=0, then I & II both follows. I don't know what will be the option.
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by Matt@VeritasPrep » Sun May 03, 2015 11:46 pm
jcnasia wrote:Here's a fun proof to show that if x + 2|y| = 0 and y + 2|x| = 0 then |x| + |y| = 0.

x + 2|y| = 0 and y + 2|x| = 0
=> x + y + 2|x| + 2|y| = 0 //add the two equations to each other
=> -1/2(x + y) = |x| + |y| //rearrange the equation

-1/2(x + y) <= |-1/2(x + y)| //since absolute value of a number is never less than the number
=> -1/2(x + y) <= 1/2(|x + y|) //rearrange inequality

1/2(|x + y|) <= 1/2(|x| + |y|) //since |x + y| is always less than or equal to |x| + |y| (see below for proof of this)
1/2(|x| + |y|) <= |x| + |y| //since 1/2 of a non-negative number is always less than the whole number

By combining all these inequalities, we get...
-1/2(x + y) <= 1/2(|x + y|) <= 1/2(|x| + |y|) <= |x| + |y|

1/2(|x| + |y|) = |x| + |y| //since -1/2(x + y) = |x| + |y| and 1/2(|x| + |y|) is between these two values
=> 0 = 1/2(|x| + |y|) //rearrange the equation
Therefore: 0 = |x| + |y| //rearrange the equation

Well, to me, it's a fun proof, but you should probably use one of the previous solutions on the actual gmat so you don't waste time.


This seems like serious overkill.

Here's an easier proof:

x + 2|y| = 0
x = -2|y|

Then

y + 2|x| = 0
y + 2|-2|y|| = 0
y + 4|y| = 0

Hence y = 0.* Plugging this back into x + 2|y| = 0, we find that x also = 0, so we're done.

* If this step doesn't make sense, think of it this way. 4|y| = -y says that y is four times as far from 0 as is -y. But y and -y are the SAME distance from 0! So this won't work for any value of y other than 0 itself.
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by [email protected] » Sun Aug 14, 2016 11:24 pm
Can't we rephrase the question as is X and Y equal to zero.
By which we can say from A) we can say x=-2 and y+/-1.so definitely x and y both are not equal to zero so is it not option D. Please correct me if I m missing some logic
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by GMATGuruNY » Sun Aug 14, 2016 11:45 pm
[email protected] wrote:Can't we rephrase the question as is X and Y equal to zero.
By which we can say from A) we can say x=-2 and y+/-1.so definitely x and y both are not equal to zero so is it not option D. Please correct me if I m missing some logic
Does |x| + |y| = 0?

Statement 1: x + 2|y| = 0
Statement 1 is satisfied by x=-2 and y=1, since -2 + 2|1| = 0.
If x=-2 and y=1, does |x| + |y| = 0?
NO.

Statement 1 is also satisfied by x=0 and y=0, since 0 + 2|0| = 0.
If x=0 and y=0, does |x| + |y| = 0?
YES.

Since the answer is NO in the first case but YES in the second case, INSUFFICIENT.
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by Matt@VeritasPrep » Fri Aug 19, 2016 2:54 pm
[email protected] wrote:Can't we rephrase the question as is X and Y equal to zero.
By which we can say from A) we can say x=-2 and y+/-1.so definitely x and y both are not equal to zero so is it not option D. Please correct me if I m missing some logic
I like the idea, and x = y = 0 is one solution ... but it isn't the ONLY solution, so we can't reduce the question simply to that. (For an intuitive example, consider the question "Am I in Africa?" If I say, "I'm in Egypt", then the answer to the question is yes, but that doesn't CHANGE the question to "Am I in Egypt?")
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by deepak4mba » Mon Mar 05, 2018 3:15 am
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