are u sure about the question?..
I think stmt 2 should be x^3>x^2....for 'C' to be answer...
Tough DS question. Can anyone explain this?
This topic has expert replies
Source: Beat The GMAT — Data Sufficiency |
Thanks bha! I made the correction right away. The actual question states x^3 < x^2. I initally thought the question creators stated the expression incorrectly, but wanted the Beatthegmat community to take a crack at it before dismissing the problem
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It actually makes no difference which way the inequality points in statement (2) - in either case, the answer would be (C).madsport wrote:What is the value of x?
1) x^4 = 625
2) x^3 < x^2
The answer is C (Data Sufficiency)
(1) is insufficient because we don't know if x is positive or negative.
(2) is insufficient because we have no clue what the actual value of x is, there are many possibilities.
Together, however, we can narrow it down to just 1 value.
From (1), we know that x = +/- 5
If x^3 < x^2, we know that x can no longer be +5, so it must be -5.
If x^3 > x^2, we know that x can no longer be -5, so it must be +5.
Either way, we get one exact value: together the statements are sufficient, choose (C).
Stuart Kovinsky | Kaplan GMAT Faculty | Toronto
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