Inequality

This topic has expert replies
Legendary Member
Posts: 1169
Joined: Sun Jul 06, 2008 2:34 am
Thanked: 25 times
Followed by:1 members

Inequality

by aj5105 » Sun May 31, 2009 8:01 pm
Find the absolute-value inequality statement that corresponds to the inequalities x < 19 or x > 24.
Source: — Data Sufficiency |

Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 103
Joined: Mon May 18, 2009 9:47 am
Thanked: 19 times

by raleigh » Sun May 31, 2009 8:37 pm
|x| > a implies that x > a or x < -a Think of absolute value is the distance between x and 0. There is symmetry between 0 and a.

The idea for this is that we need to shift 0 to a point that gives us similar symmetry with 19 and 24. Drawing a number line may help. On a number line, the mid point between 19 and 24 is 21.5 and it is 2.5 units from both 19 and 24.

So examine |x - 21.5| >= 2.5. You'll see the same symmetry. I'm having a hard time explaining it, but hopefully there is enough here to understand the process.