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by yalanand » Thu Jan 22, 2009 1:27 am
Question # 3
Is x > y ?
(I) (x - y)(x - y) > 0
(II) y > 0

(A) Statement (I) ALONE is sufficient, but statement (II) alone is not sufficient

(B) Statement (II) ALONE is sufficient, but statement (I) is not sufficient

(C) BOTH statements TOGETHER are sufficient, but NEITHER statement alone is sufficient

(D) Each statement ALONE is sufficient

(E) Statements (I) and (II) TOGETHER are NOT sufficient
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Source: — Data Sufficiency |

by DanaJ » Thu Jan 22, 2009 1:40 am
1. is equivalent to (x - y)^2v> 0, which is always positive, except for the case when x = y, which would mean that (x - y)^2 = 0. So the only thing we can safely conclude from this one is that x <>y. 1 by itself is insufficient.
2. is insufficient, since it does not tell us anything about the nature of x.

Taken together, the two statements are as "useless" as taken separately. You only get that x is not equal to y and that y is positive. This does not shed light on whether x > y.
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by yalanand » Thu Jan 22, 2009 1:42 am
Thank you :)
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