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Inequality question, Plz. help

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Source: — Problem Solving |

Re: Inequality question, Plz. help

by Ian Stewart » Wed Jul 30, 2008 8:03 am
gmattester wrote:Is x/3 + 3/x >2

a) x<3
b) x>1
Notice that the inequality will be false if x is negative, so 1) is not sufficient. From 2), we know x is positive, so we can multiply both sides by 3x (to get rid of the fractions), and since we know x is positive, we don't need to worry about whether to reverse the inequality when we do this:

If x > 0,

x/3 + 3/x > 2
x^2 + 9 > 6x
x^2 - 6x + 9 > 0
(x-3)^2 > 0

The left side is squared so can't be negative; the inequality will be true for every value of x except x = 3. So Statement 2) is not sufficient on its own (x could be 3), but 1) and 2) together are sufficient (x cannot be 3). C.
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by pepeprepa » Wed Jul 30, 2008 8:03 am
x/3 + 3/x >2

x<3
Take x=-3 or take x=2
We do not know anything.

x>1
We see the inequality is true for all x superior to 1. We can write it like that x^2-6x+9>0

Yeap I did not see for x=3, Ian shows you the right solution and I show you how to be trapped by the question :roll:
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by gmattester » Wed Jul 30, 2008 8:37 am
Thanks Ian...

Yes answer is 'C'.

I started this problem like:

x/3 + 3/x > 2
x^2 + 9 > 6x
x^2 - 6x + 9 > 0
(x-3)^2 > 0
x-3>0
Therefore x>3 or x will always be greater than 3.

a) x<3

So I concluded if x<3 - FALSE . Therefore statement 1 is sufficient .
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