OG- Quantitative Review

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OG- Quantitative Review

by Mo2men » Mon Feb 12, 2018 5:03 pm
If xy > 0 does (x - 1)(y - 1) = 1?

(1) x + y = xy
(2) x = y

OA: A

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by ErikaPrepScholar » Tue Feb 13, 2018 6:24 am
Statement 1 tells us that x + y = xy. Let's try to manipulate (x-1)(y-1) to give us either x + y or xy so we can use this information. We'll start by FOILing to expand:
xy - x - y + 1
Then pulling out a -1 from the two middle terms gives:
xy - (x + y) + 1
Then plugging in xy for x + y gives:
xy - xy + 1
1
So (x-1)(y-1) = 1. Sufficient.

Statement 2 tells us that x = y. This means that (x -1)(y - 1) = (x - 1)^2 = (y - 1)^2.

Let's see what x and y must equal for (x-1)(y-1) to equal 1. Setting (x - 1)^2 equal to 1, we can solve for x:

(x -1 )^2 = 1
x^2 - 2x + 1 = 1
x^2 - 2x = 0
x (x - 2) = 0
x = 0 or x = 2

So (x - 1)(y - 1) = 1, x and y must both equal either 0 or 2.

So what do we know about x and y, other than that they are the same? We know that multiplied together, they are greater than zero. This tells us that x and y can't equal zero - 0 * 0 = 0, and xy > 0. However, any negative OR positive number multiplied by itself will give a product greater than zero. So based on this statement, x and y can be any number other than zero. This means x and y could equal 2, making (x - 1)(y - 1) = 1, or it could equal any other number other than 0, making (x - 1)(y - 1) not equal to 1. Insufficient.
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by Scott@TargetTestPrep » Tue Feb 20, 2018 4:22 pm
Mo2men wrote:If xy > 0 does (x - 1)(y - 1) = 1?

(1) x + y = xy
(2) x = y
We can re-express the question as:

Does xy - x - y + 1 = 1 ?

Does xy = x + y ?

Statement One Alone:

x + y = xy

We see that statement one answers the question.

Statement Two Alone:

x = y

Knowing that x = y, is not sufficient to answer the question. If x = y = 2, then (2 - 1)(2 - 1) = 1; however, if x = y = 1, then (1 - 1)(1 - 1) does not does equal 1.

Answer: A

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