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DS GMAT Prep Absolute values

Expert replies
by Saffa » Fri Oct 17, 2008 11:39 am
I've searched the forums, but due to the ABS or | | notation I could not find it.

Is ABS(x - y) > ABS(x) - ABS(y)?

(1) y < x
(2) xy < 0

OA is B

For (2) I use substitution

x y
-6 3
-1 1
1 -1
6 -3

And for all these combination it worked. Is there is shorter way?
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Source: — Data Sufficiency |

by sumidi » Sat Oct 18, 2008 4:58 pm
Hey saffa,

I was laughing when I saw this question, I am looking at a better solution for this as well. I in-fact got this question wrong as I went through it too fast and said 'C' thinking that would be sufficient.

While reviewing my I solved it in 2 mins using substitution(your method) so i am keen for a better answer as well.

Cheers,
Sumi
(ozzie)

PS. How ya goin saffa mate?
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by sumithshah » Thu Oct 23, 2008 9:23 pm
The required statments only comes when X and Y are of different signs - hence XY<0 solves the equation.

Plug with numbers and try - its like a number property rule I think
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by stop@800 » Thu Oct 23, 2008 10:02 pm
I did A with substitution and found it to be Insuff

I used x,y as -2,-3 and 3,2

for B
xy<0
either is -ve
so

if x -ve then y +ve
|x-y| will be sum of abs value os x and y
whereas
|x| - |y| will be difference

simlarly
x+ve also

so we can say

|x-y| > |x| - |y|
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Re: DS GMAT Prep Absolute values

by Ian Stewart » Fri Oct 24, 2008 12:19 am
Saffa wrote:I've searched the forums, but due to the ABS or | | notation I could not find it.

Is ABS(x - y) > ABS(x) - ABS(y)?

(1) y < x
(2) xy < 0

OA is B

For (2) I use substitution

x y
-6 3
-1 1
1 -1
6 -3

And for all these combination it worked. Is there is shorter way?
There is, but it's more conceptual than choosing numbers. If you understand that absolute value measures distance, these kinds of questions can normally be done quickly and reliably:

|x| is the distance from x to zero
|x-y| is the distance between x and y on the number line

Consider the inequality in question:

|x - y| > |x| - |y|


Take Statement 2 first. It tells us that x and y are on opposite sides of zero. Draw this on a number line (and it really makes no difference whether y or x is on the left):

---y----0-----x-----

Clearly the distance from x to y is equal to the distance from x to 0 plus the distance from y to zero. That is,

|x-y| = |x| + |y|

which must be greater than |x| - |y|.

Statement 1 is not sufficient; we might have the situation above, but we might also have:

------0----y-----x----

Here, |x-y| is exactly equal to |x| - |y| --- the distance from x to y is equal to the distance from x to zero minus the distance from y to zero.

That may take some time to explain, but when you get accustomed to looking at absolute value problems in this way, it can be very fast to do.
For online GMAT math tutoring, or to buy my higher-level Quant books and problem sets, contact me at ianstewartgmat at gmail.com

ianstewartgmat.com
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og absolute values

by simba12123 » Fri Oct 24, 2008 6:55 am
can this question be made much much easier by cleverly simplifying the question down more to a bare bones question? I am finding it much easier to substitute.
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