Hi,

Stat 1 says that x = 3, so its sufficient to say NO x is not less than 2.

Stat 2 says that |(x-2)(x-1)| < 5
x = 3 as well as x = 1 satisfy above equation, hence its insufficient.

The correct answer should be A

GmatKiss wrote:Is x<2?

1.5x=15
2.|x^2-3x+2|<5

OA after some discussion

Statement 1 is sufficient x= 3
Statement 2. plugged values
Put x= 3 in the equation ; 2<5 OK
Put x=1 in the equation; 0<5 OK.
Clearly x can be greater or less than 2. So insufficient.

Correct answer: A

My Answer : A

Nice thread here, everyone!

You've all done really well on this question but since I did it slightly differently before reading everyone else's responses I figured I'd chime in anyway.

My fear on one of these questions is that "x = 3" is probably (and our limited sample size suggests so) the most likely "No" answer you'd try once you realized that x = 0 works in the quadratic and therefore gives the answer "Yes", x can be less than 2. So what if x = 3 did not work in the quadratic? You'd probably then think in terms of even bigger numbers (say, x = 100) and realize that there's no way that they'd work in the quadratic, and think that statement 2 is sufficient.

So I'd suggest first trying the smallest possible number for which x is NOT less than 2: 2 itself. The GMAT knows that your first inclination when trying for "is x less than 2" is to try 3, the next number up. So it may very well make 3 just a bit too high to be considered, knowing full well that a fairly high percentage of examinees won't ever consider 2...they see 2 as the dividing line, but not as the "No" answer that you'd need.

Let me show a quick example. Say that statement 2 were instead:

x^2 - 3x + 6 < 5

3 doesn't work (3^2 - 3(3) + 6 is greater than 5), but 2 still does (2^2 - 3(2) + 6 is less than 5), and 2 still provides the answer "No" and therefore "Not Sufficient". So just note that your first inclination is likely to start with 3, but that's a full integer above the the smallest number that would give the answer "No" to the question.