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Hard DS

by ayushiiitm » Sat Jul 17, 2010 12:04 pm
If the product of p and Q is less than -4, is Q less than 5

1) q<10

2) p<-5

I usually get stumped, whenever I see such DS questions in which, a lot of values have to be put and examined. Can anybody suggest some approach/formula/trick to solve these kinds

I would be really thankful
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by Patrick_GMATFix » Sat Jul 17, 2010 12:36 pm
Ayushiiitm you are right, plugging in can take time. But you must do it intelligently. I typically try to plug in values that will force the statement to give me conflicting answers if possible. We know that the product pq is negative (less than -4) so the variables have opposite signs. Remember that whatever you plug-in must agree with both the statements and the prompt (question stem)

(1) If (p,q)=(-5,1) then q will be less than 5. On the other hand, if (p,q)=(-5,5) then q will not be less than 5. NOT SUFFICIENT

(2) First check whether something you have already used can be used again. Nothing, so we should plug in new values. If (p,q)=(-6,1) then q will be less than 5. On the other hand, if (p,q)=(-6,5) then q will not be less than 5. NOT SUFFICIENT

MERGE STATEMENTS
Again check whether you can recycle what you have already used. What you plug in at this point must agree with both statements. Both sets of values that we used to check statement 2 coul be used to check the statements merged, so there is no need to do any more work. We know we can get conflicting answers. Pick E

If you struggle with and want to practice advanced inequalities, set topic='Inequalities & Absolute Values' and difficulty='600-700 & 700+' in the Drill Generator.

Good luck,
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by ayushiiitm » Sat Jul 17, 2010 12:38 pm
Thanks Patrick,

OA is E
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by Patrick_GMATFix » Sat Jul 17, 2010 1:01 pm
You got it buddy.
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by frank1 » Sun Jul 18, 2010 4:47 am
Well thought hard but question like this atleast give you some way to start ...
for eg any body would start testing numbers thought they are stumped...
i have seen lots of questions which are hard even to guess answer...lol

so main motive of question like these is to suck up the time......as we need to test different variable...
but in this question it is not as difficult as it can be
as statement A is simple
In max 2 test ,we can say B is out...
and there are no square root and division envolved...
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