Data Sufficiency

Is x +y <1 ?

1. x < 8/9;
2. y < 1/8;

Is there any easy way to combine both the equations to solve this problem and genral way to attack such problems.

Hi,

I am not sure of a general way but the way I would do this problem is as follows:

since x<8/9 and y<1/8.

x+y has to be less than 8/9+1/8
i.e, x+y<73/72

x+y<73/72 doesnt necessarily mean x+y<1. it could be 1.00000009 or some value less than 73/72 but greater than 1.

so, my answer would be (E). Both stmts not sufficient.