is y>0?

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by rockeyb » Sun May 09, 2010 8:24 pm
harshavardhanc wrote: rocky,

we should not subtract the inequalities. Addition is okay if the inequalities have the same sign.


see this :

1) 3 > 0
2) 7 > 0

will (1) - (2) be greater than 0? no.

we can tell that (2) - (1) > 0 BECAUSE we know that 7>3.

But in the inequality, like one above, we are not sure which one is greater because of the variables. Hence, subtraction should not be done.

HTH.
Harsha Bhai ,

What you said makes sense .

I apologies to you all as I made a silly mistake again :( . We can subtract inequalities provided what you do to one side of the inequality you do the same to the other side also .
This is where I made the mistake .

Here is some official explanation form MGAMT Maths Guide.
You can add or subtract a variable expression on both sides .

Ex :

y + x < 5
-y - y
----------------------
x < 5 - y


another example .

x - ab < 9
+ ab + ab

---------------------
x < 9 + ab
So going by this method we can not eliminate variable 'x ' in the above example and thus we can never be sure of the sign of variable 'y' .

My sincere apologies for misguiding you all .
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by gmatmachoman » Sun May 09, 2010 11:17 pm
neoreaves wrote:hmmm ...ok now on second thought....we can not subtract inequalities as suggested by harsha ...though good thing we are discussing this right now to keep our concepts in check
Okay..Nero bhai....one quick suggestion..Plz post OA ..Clear of the backlogs atleast the last week's .Plz

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by harshavardhanc » Sun May 09, 2010 11:36 pm
here's one more post from Testluv, clearing all the concepts :

https://www.beatthegmat.com/post247288.html#247288
Regards,
Harsha

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by sanju09 » Mon May 10, 2010 2:55 am
neoreaves wrote:If x and y are integers and x>0, is y>0?
1. 7x-2y>0
2. -y<x
(1) is possible in more than one possibilities for y, insufficient

(2) is again true in more than one possibilities for y, insufficient

go for the amalgamation

7 x - 2 y > 0, and x > -y, hence 7 x > -7 y

now something greater than -9 y is positive, if -9 y is t for the time being, then something greater than t is positive, what can be inferred? [spoiler]quite nothing!

E
[/spoiler]
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by debmalya_dutta » Mon May 10, 2010 4:54 pm
This was a great pointer Harsha
harshavardhanc wrote:
rockeyb wrote:
Ashish8 wrote:
rockeyb wrote: Multiply both sides by 7 -------> 7x + 7y > 0

Subtract 1 and 2

7x - 2y > 0
-7x - 7y > 0
-----------------
0 - 9y > 0


- 9y > 0 this is only possible when y < 0 .
Rocky, is this a valid operation? I don't think you can subtract inequlities like that cause at the same time you're multiplying the whole inequlity by -1. Which would make the equation:

-7x -7y < 0

This flips the sign and then a simple addition of the two equations is not possible.
Bro ,

I know we can add or subtract inequalities and equations consisting inequalities . Even we can solve simultaneous equations using inequalities .

The only operation which you need to look out for are multiplication and division by negative number as that will flip the inequality sign .

But I can see your point here . But the thing is we are not trying to multiply both sides of the equation , instead we are subtracting one equation from another .

If we multiply both sides by -1 then the sign would flip . In case of adding or subtracting inequalities we just need to line up the inequalities and perform addition and subtraction as we would do with equality sign.
rocky,

we should not subtract the inequalities. Addition is okay if the inequalities have the same sign.


see this :

1) 3 > 0
2) 7 > 0

will (1) - (2) be greater than 0? no.

we can tell that (2) - (1) > 0 BECAUSE we know that 7>3.

But in the inequality, like one above, we are not sure which one is greater because of the variables. Hence, subtraction should not be done.

HTH.