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GMATPrep Question - Slope of line K

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by ice_rush » Tue Apr 02, 2013 7:25 pm
In the xy-plane, is the slope of line k equal to 0?

(1) The x intercept of k is 0

(2) The y intercept of k is 0


OA after discussion as I am highly suspicious of the answer.
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by Anju@Gurome » Tue Apr 02, 2013 7:31 pm
ice_rush wrote:In the xy-plane, is the slope of line k equal to 0?

(1) The x intercept of k is 0

(2) The y intercept of k is 0


OA after discussion as I am highly suspicious of the answer.
This question looks ambiguous.

The question is whether line K is a horizontal line or not.

(1) The x-intercept of k is 0 implies that there is only one point of intercept with the x-axis, which means that we can rule out the line y = 0 {On x-axis, y = 0, and on y-axis, x = 0, which means both pass through the origin. But x-axis has a slope of 0}. So, line k is not the line y = 0 and has x-intercept, which means it cannot be horizontal. So, the slope is not 0; SUFFICIENT.

(2) The y-intercept of k is 0 is definitely NOT Sufficient.

The correct answer is A.
Last edited by Anju@Gurome on Tue Apr 02, 2013 8:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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by ice_rush » Tue Apr 02, 2013 8:11 pm
Hi Anju,

My understanding of St1 is that there is only one point of intersection with the x axis. If that is true we can rule out y=0 which makes st 1 sufficient. What am I missing here?


Thanks!
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by Anju@Gurome » Tue Apr 02, 2013 8:42 pm
ice_rush wrote:Hi Anju,

My understanding of St1 is that there is only one point of intersection with the x axis. If that is true we can rule out y=0 which makes st 1 sufficient. What am I missing here?


Thanks!
You are right, I have edited my previous reply.
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by ice_rush » Tue Apr 02, 2013 8:52 pm
Thanks! However, as per GMATPrep the answer is E
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by aditya8062 » Tue Apr 02, 2013 9:46 pm
Thanks! However, as per GMATPrep the answer is E
the answer has to be E

for the line can be X axis itself or the Y axis itself (both have X and Y intercepts as zero !! )also line can be something like a line passing through (0,0) and having a slope of 45 degree !!
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by aditya8062 » Tue Apr 02, 2013 10:00 pm
Anju@Gurome wrote :The x-intercept of k is 0 implies that there is only one point of intercept with the x-axis, which means that we can rule out the line y = 0 {On x-axis, y = 0, and on y-axis, x = 0, which means both pass through the origin. But x-axis has a slope of 0}. So, line k is not the line y = 0 and has x-intercept, which means it cannot be horizontal. So, the slope is not 0; SUFFICIENT.
this is not correct
when we have a equation y = mx + c then c is the y intercept .if we make c as zero then we get eq as y =mx that means that any eq with y = mx has y intercept zero
that means that y = x and y= 0 and x = 0 have y intercept as zero
similarly y =x and y =0 and x = 0 have x intercept as zero
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by hemant_rajput » Wed Apr 03, 2013 4:32 am
I doubt aditya's Explanation.

y = mx + c is the equation of line in the form of y.

x = y/m - c/m is the equation of line in the form of x.

now statement 1 says x intercept is zero.

so c/m is zero.

hence m definitely not equal to zero, hence statement 1 is sufficient to answer the question.

now statement 1 says y intercept is zero.

i.e c is zero, we don't have any information about m it can or can't be zero .

not sufficient.
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by aditya8062 » Wed Apr 03, 2013 4:48 am
so c/m is zero.

hence m definitely not equal to zero, hence statement 1 is sufficient to answer the question.
this is not correct .oki do one thing .draw a line Y = 2 and ask ur self what is the slope of this line it is zero !!.not ask ur self does this line have a x intercept .the answer is no !!
so that means that this line y = 2 has slope 0 and also the x intercept is 0
now draw the line Y = X again ask 2 question .what is the x intercept of this line .it is 0
is the slope 0 ? no
hence A cannot be the answer !!!
make sense !!
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by aditya8062 » Wed Apr 03, 2013 4:53 am
x = y/m - c/m is the equation of line in the form of x.

now statement 1 says x intercept is zero.

so c/m is zero.

hence m definitely not equal to zero, hence statement 1 is sufficient to answer the question.
also ur this analysis is not correct . i cud have explained mathematically but i thought of giving u example as i have done in my previous post !!
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by hemant_rajput » Wed Apr 03, 2013 4:59 am
aditya8062 wrote:
so c/m is zero.

hence m definitely not equal to zero, hence statement 1 is sufficient to answer the question.
this is not correct .oki do one thing .draw a line Y = 2 and ask ur self what is the slope of this line it is zero !!.not ask ur self does this line have a x intercept .the answer is no !!
so that means that this line y = 2 has slope 0 and also the x intercept is 0
now draw the line Y = X again ask 2 question .what is the x intercept of this line .it is 0
is the slope 0 ? no
hence A cannot be the answer !!!
make sense !!
dude you have a flaw in your reasoning.

statement 1 says x intercept is zero but you keep on making y intercept zero.

x intercept is c/m not c.
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by aditya8062 » Wed Apr 03, 2013 5:06 am
statement 1 says x intercept is zero but you keep on making y intercept zero.
so is there a rule that if if my equation has to follow st 1 then it cannot follow any other condition !!
i am not sure if u have followed my equations .kindly do them and justify as why i am getting 2 answers with A
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by hemant_rajput » Wed Apr 03, 2013 5:33 am
aditya8062 wrote:
statement 1 says x intercept is zero but you keep on making y intercept zero.
so is there a rule that if if my equation has to follow st 1 then it cannot follow any other condition !!
i am not sure if u have followed my equations .kindly do them and justify as why i am getting 2 answers with A
there is no rule that says that, but whatever condition you are bringing in should not contradict with the given statement, right.Because if that is the case then your assumption is wrong. This method is known as negation method and is widely used too.

for statement 1, you made the slope of line zero which in turn make the x intercept equal to infinity or not defined(c/0 = infinity), hence your assumption is wrong.


hope this helps.
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by aditya8062 » Wed Apr 03, 2013 5:43 am
for statement 1, you made the slope of line zero which in turn make the x intercept equal to infinity or not defined(c/0 = infinity), hence your assumption is wrong.
i am not sure which equation of mine u referring !!


BTW u didnt answer what is the slope of y =2 and what is the X intercept of this equation
u want me to put mathematical solution to this ?
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by hemant_rajput » Wed Apr 03, 2013 5:45 am
aditya8062 wrote:
for statement 1, you made the slope of line zero which in turn make the x intercept equal to infinity or not defined(c/0 = infinity), hence your assumption is wrong.
i am not sure which equation of mine u referring !!


BTW u didnt answer what is the slope of y =2 and what is the X intercept of this equation
u want me to put mathematical solution to this ?
y = 2 has a slope of zero and intercept of 2.

the x intercept is infinity.
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