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If ° represents one of the operations +, –, and ×,

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by siddhans » Sun Jul 03, 2011 3:04 am
Please explain in detail?

If ° represents one of the operations +, -, and ×,
is k ° (l + m) = (k ° l ) + (k ° m) for all numbers k, l ,
and m ?
(1) k ° 1 is not equal to 1 ° k for some numbers k.
(2) ° represents subtraction.



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Source: — Data Sufficiency |

by goalevan » Sun Jul 03, 2011 3:48 pm
The question stem asks, is k ° (l + m) = (k ° l) + (k ° m) for all numbers k, l,
and m? This construction is the distributive property of multiplication, so the question stem can be reworded:

Does ° correspond with the multiplication operation?

Statement 1) k ° 1 is not equal to 1 ° k for some numbers k. This statement says that the commutative property does not apply. This is sufficient information for us to know that ° is not the multiplication or the addition operation since this property applies to both.

Sufficient.

Statement 2) This statement tells us that ° represents subtraction, therefore we know that it does not represent multiplication.

Sufficient.

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