OG 18, question-377

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OG 18, question-377

by vaibhav101 » Mon Oct 16, 2017 1:47 am
For any integers x and y, min(x, y) and max(x, y) denote the minimum and the maximum of x and y, respectively. For example, min(5, 2) = 2 and max(5, 2) = 5. For the integer w, what is the value of min(10, w) ?

1. w = max(20, z) for some integer z.
2. w = max(10, w)
Source: — Data Sufficiency |

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by GMATGuruNY » Mon Oct 16, 2017 2:52 am
For any integers x and y, min(x, y) and max(x, y) denote the minimum and the maximum of x and y, respectively. For example, min(5, 2) = 2 and max(5, 2) = 5. For the integer w, what is the value of min(10, w) ?

1. w = max(20, z) for some integer z.
2. w = max(10, w)
The value of min(10,w) is equal to the MINIMUM of 10 and w.
If 10<w, then the MINIMUM of 10 and w is 10.

Statement 1: w = max(20, z) for some integer z.
In other words, w is equal to the MAXIMUM of 20 and z.

Case 1: 20<z
In this case, the MAXIMUM value is z, which is greater than 20 and thus GREATER THAN 10.

Case 2: z≤20
In this case, the MAXIMUM value is 20, which is GREATER THAN 10.

In each case, the MAXIMUM value -- in other words, the value of w -- is GREATER THAN 10.
Thus, w>10.
Since 10<w, min(10,w) = 10.
SUFFICIENT.

Statement 2: w = max(10, w)
Thus, of 10 and w, the MAXIMUM value is w.
In other words, w>10.
Since 10<w, min(10,w) = 10.
SUFFICIENT.

The correct answer is D.
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by Brent@GMATPrepNow » Mon Oct 16, 2017 6:07 am
vaibhav101 wrote:For any integers x and y, min(x, y) and max(x, y) denote the minimum and the maximum of x and y, respectively. For example, min(5, 2) = 2 and max(5, 2) = 5. For the integer w, what is the value of min(10, w) ?

1. w = max(20, z) for some integer z.
2. w = max(10, w)
Target question: What is the value of min(10, w)?

Statement 1: w = max(20, z) for some integer z.
Let's take a closer look at max(20, z)
If z < 20, then max(20, z) = 20
If z > 20, then max(20, z) = some value greater than 20
So, max(20, z) must be greater than or equal to 20
Since, w = max(20, z), we can conclude that w is greater than or equal to 20
From this, we can conclude that min(10, w) = 10, since 10 will be the lesser value
Since we can answer the target question with certainty, statement 1 is SUFFICIENT

Statement 2: w = max(10, w)
If w = max(10, w), then w is the larger value.
In other words, w is greater than or equal to 10
If w is greater than or equal to 10, then we can conclude that min(10, w) = 10
Since we can answer the target question with certainty, statement 2 is SUFFICIENT

Answer = D

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