[email protected] wrote:Hi vinay1983,

Rather than explain this entire question, I'm going to make a suggestion and have you go back and re-solve it:

A good way to prove what's going on is the TEST VALUES. You've presented a lot of ideas, but you've made a little mistake.

Go back and PROVE whatever you think. Pay attention to the information that you're given, TEST some specific numbers and track the results. You should be able to get this question correct.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

[email protected] wrote:Hi vinay1983,

Compare what you wrote in your second post to what you wrote in your first post. You've written two completely different explanations with different answers.

I suggest that you pick SPECIFIC numbers, write them down and prove if the answer to the question changes or stays the same. You're attempting to "talk" your way past this question and you're making mistakes.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

lunarpower wrote:hey, i wrote this problem!

vinay1983 wrote:Ok Combining both statements we have

√x > y and x^3 > y


X has to be positive and x has to be more than y, hence x is more than y!

Then C

It's more complicated than that.

√x > y doesn't imply that x > y. If it did, then the answer would be (a), not (c).

Here's the thing:
The ORDER OF POWERS is different from "normal" for ...
... negatives
... numbers between 0 and 1.

Just try some numbers in these ranges, and you'll see.
If x < -1, then x^3 < x < x^2. (Plug in something like -2, and watch what falls out.)
If -1 < x < 0, then x < x^3 < x^2. (Plug in something like -1/2.)
If 0 < x < 1, then x^3 < x^2 < x < √x. (Plug in something like 1/2.)
If x > 1, then it's the "normal" order (√x < x < x^2 < x^3).
Note that there's no "√x" for negative values of x.

The reason why statement 1 isn't sufficient is the behavior of numbers between 0 and 1. For instance, if x = 1/4, then √x = 1/2, which is bigger.
So, for instance, if x = 1/4 and y = 1/3, then √x is greater than y, but x itself is less than y.

On the other hand, x is always between √x and x^3 (unless x = 0 or 1, in which case all three are the same). So that's why the two statements together are good enough.

lunarpower wrote:

vinay1983 wrote:it would help me if you can simplify statement 1 for me a little more

x = 1/4 and y = 1/3 satisfy statement 1. In that case, x < y.

x = 4 and y = 1 also satisfy statement 1. In that case, x > y.

Not sufficient.

lunarpower wrote:
Sorry, I don't know what this means.