Isnt this a risky question

Hi shibsriz,

Uva@90 has offered a nice approach to this question, and I'm going to add a few details.

First, the wording and set-up for this question imply that there's just 1 answer, not several, so you shouldn't feel too overwhelmed.

Second, the answers are numbers, so we should TEST THE ANSWERS. Since the "math" in this question could get ugly, I'm going to stick to integers.

X = 1 is a great place to start. Plug that value into both calculations and you'll end up with...

3^5 and 4^4
243 and 256

So the numbers are real close; the answer has to be close to 1. The question is do we pick B or C? Notice that the SECOND value is BIGGER.

For the next test, you can decide between a few options (.5, 1.5 or 2 if you prefer using an integer).

X = 2 gives us...

5^5 and 7^4
3025 and (49)(49) = approx. (50)(50) = 2500

Notice now that the FIRST value is BIGGER.

This tells me that increasing the value of X makes the first part of the equation "grow" faster than the second part, so I would have to choose an answer that was a little bigger than 1

Final Answer: C

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