What is the value of x?

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What is the value of x?

by BTGmoderatorDC » Tue Apr 23, 2019 8:02 pm

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What is the value of x?

(1) 4x = 2y − 6
(2) (y - 3)/2 = x

OA E

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by Brent@GMATPrepNow » Wed Apr 24, 2019 4:57 am

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BTGmoderatorDC wrote:What is the value of x?

(1) 4x = 2y − 6
(2) (y - 3)/2 = x
Target question: What is the value of x?

Statement 1: 4x = 2y − 6
Divide both sides by 2 to get: 2x = y - 3
Divide both sides by 2 (again) to get: x = (y - 3)/2
As you might guess, there are infinitely many solutions to the equation x = (y - 3)/2. Here are two:
Case a: y = 3, and x = 0. In this case, the answer to the target question is x = 0
Case b: y = 5, and x = 1. In this case, the answer to the target question is x = 1
Since we cannot answer the target question with certainty, statement 1 is NOT SUFFICIENT

Statement 2: (y - 3)/2 = x
This is the EXACT SAME information we got in statement 1.
So, since statement 1 is NOT SUFFICIENT, we know that statement 2 is NOT SUFFICIENT

Statements 1 and 2 combined
Since statements 1 and 2 provide the same information, and since each statement alone is NOT SUFFICIENT, we know that the combined statements are NOT SUFFICIENT

Answer: E

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Brent
Brent Hanneson - Creator of GMATPrepNow.com
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