BREAKING: Target Test Prep releases Brand New 2026 On Demand GMAT prep course

Redeem

DS Question on Absolute Value

This topic has expert replies
Post new topic Post Reply
Previous Topic Next Topic
Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts
Posts: 4
Joined: Tue Mar 13, 2012 10:26 pm

DS Question on Absolute Value

by mawaru » Sat May 04, 2013 3:27 pm
I ran into this question on MG and I disagree with the answer...

The question is:

|a| - |b| = 6

The answer is saying that:
if a = 7 and b = -1
|7| - |-1| = 8


I think 8 is incorrect. The answer should be 6 since the absolute value of -1 (|-1|) is 1.

Am I reading this wrong? Thanks!
Top
Source: — Data Sufficiency |

GMAT/MBA Expert

User avatar
GMAT Instructor
Posts: 16207
Joined: Mon Dec 08, 2008 6:26 pm
Location: Vancouver, BC
Thanked: 5254 times
Followed by:1268 members
GMAT Score:770

by Brent@GMATPrepNow » Sat May 04, 2013 3:51 pm
You're absolutely right.
|7| - |-1| = 7 - 1
= 6

However, the equation is |a| - |b| = 6
So, it seems that a = 7 and b = -1 is a solution to the equation.
The incorrect part is stating that |7| - |-1| = 8

Cheers,
Brent
Brent Hanneson - Creator of GMATPrepNow.com
Image
Top
Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts
Posts: 4
Joined: Tue Mar 13, 2012 10:26 pm

by mawaru » Sat May 04, 2013 4:01 pm
Brent@GMATPrepNow wrote:You're absolutely right.
|7| - |-1| = 7 - 1
= 6

However, the equation is |a| - |b| = 6
So, it seems that a = 7 and b = -1 is a solution to the equation.
The incorrect part is stating that |7| - |-1| = 8

Cheers,
Brent
Thanks Brent! I thought I was crazy there. So what that means is that the MG might have an incorrect answer in their CATs.
Top
Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts
Posts: 9
Joined: Wed Feb 15, 2012 5:27 am
Followed by:1 members

by iamniladri » Sun May 05, 2013 7:23 am
Hello
Could you please submit the entire question? Would be helpful for us to understand.

Thanks.
mawaru wrote:
Brent@GMATPrepNow wrote:You're absolutely right.
|7| - |-1| = 7 - 1
= 6

However, the equation is |a| - |b| = 6
So, it seems that a = 7 and b = -1 is a solution to the equation.
The incorrect part is stating that |7| - |-1| = 8

Cheers,
Brent
Thanks Brent! I thought I was crazy there. So what that means is that the MG might have an incorrect answer in their CATs.
Top
Post new topic Post Reply
• Page 1 of 1