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Problem solving assumption

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by elangovan28 » Wed Jan 05, 2011 8:11 pm
I have a strange doubt regarding problem solving. Recently i was tackling a GMAT question where i assumed that Length has to be longer than breath of a rectangle and i got the answer wrong. If the problem had said ...2 sides of a rectangle, i would not have assumed anything....rather it said some thing like this specifically......Length of the rectangle, so i assumed the width to be shorter !

Please suggest me on this issue. Reply will be appreciated.

Cheers,
EK
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by Geva@EconomistGMAT » Thu Jan 06, 2011 12:01 am
Was the question from an official GMAC source?

I believe your misconception is mistaken - I don't see the GMAT limiting itself to a length being longer than the width, or constructing a problem in such a way that would force you to assume it.

To support my hunch, I checked the Official Guide's definition of a rectangle (12 ed, p.131), and it doesn't even mention length and width - it just defines a rectangle as a parallelogram with all right angles.

In fact, if you skip a couple of pages to the section defining the properties of rectangular solids, the OG defines the volume formula as length*width*height, but then proceeds to give an example where the first dimension is also the shortest one: 3 * 4 * 8. Based on this, I would say that the definition of length and width is arbitrary, and does not imply that one is longer than the other.
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