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Value of y

Expert replies
Source: — Data Sufficiency |

by Harbinder » Sat Oct 31, 2009 7:53 pm
IMO E

Stmt 1 has two variables and cannot give Y
Stmt 2 has 2 possible values for Y 11 and 14
both statement combine also cannot provide a unique value for Y ...

what's the OA
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by rohan_vus » Sat Oct 31, 2009 11:44 pm
IMO C..
coz combining both statements you see that y cant be -ve ..in which case its 14.
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by crackgmat007 » Sun Nov 01, 2009 8:05 pm
rohan_vus wrote:IMO C..
coz combining both statements you see that y cant be -ve ..in which case its 14.
can you provide the solution for this?
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by life is a test » Sun Nov 01, 2009 9:12 pm
E?


1.gives us one eqn and 2 unknowns. all we can derive from it is that x^2 > 3.33333 or x^2<4.5 -> this gives many values for y -> insuff

2. tells us y=8 or 11 -> insuff

1 and 2 tells us y>0 (from statement 2) in which case x^2 > 3.33333 or x^2<4.5 (from statement 1) -> insuff.

OA pls?
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by chipbmk » Sun Nov 01, 2009 9:16 pm
My response is E as well.

OA please!?!?
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how?

by brick2009 » Mon Nov 02, 2009 12:27 am
when you combine both, the eqn will be :

0.5*(|x^2-4|+1) = Y

Can you get a value of Y?? (insuff.)

Hence E, is the ans

rohan_vus wrote:IMO C..
coz combining both statements you see that y cant be -ve ..in which case its 14.
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Re: how?

by rohan_vus » Mon Nov 02, 2009 5:09 am
brick2009 wrote:when you combine both, the eqn will be :

0.5*(|x^2-4|+1) = Y

Can you get a value of Y?? (insuff.)

Hence E, is the ans

rohan_vus wrote:IMO C..
coz combining both statements you see that y cant be -ve ..in which case its 14.
Nope ..thats not what i meant ..from stamnt 1 its obviously insufficient..but fromn stmnt 1 yo see y cant be -ve..as y = = abs value + 2..

From stmnt 2 you get 2 values fopr y ... one is 14 and other is -8..
Now when i say combine 2 stmnts you see which value can actually satisfy both stmnts together ..from stmnt (1) you know that y = 3|x^2 - 4| + 2.. which can never never be -ve ...Thus 14 is what sufficies a unique solution.. You dont really need to care about x ..the abs value of |x^2 - 4| is always >=0 ..
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by chipbmk » Mon Nov 02, 2009 9:56 am
Crackthegmat007, please post the OA. It is rather rude to have people helping you and never provide the correct answer.

Please see the etiquette post on how you are supposed to post the OA within your original post.

"Always include an Official Answer and please use the Spoilers function to hide the Official Answer. Example Spoiler usage: [spoiler]Hello![/spoiler] Hiding the OA makes for a better learning experience for other members. More information about the Spoilers function can be found here: https://www.beatthegmat.com/new-spoilers-t5302.html"
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by crackgmat007 » Mon Nov 02, 2009 9:41 pm
chipbmk wrote:Crackthegmat007, please post the OA. It is rather rude to have people helping you and never provide the correct answer.

Please see the etiquette post on how you are supposed to post the OA within your original post.

"Always include an Official Answer and please use the Spoilers function to hide the Official Answer. Example Spoiler usage: [spoiler]Hello![/spoiler] Hiding the OA makes for a better learning experience for other members. More information about the Spoilers function can be found here: https://www.beatthegmat.com/new-spoilers-t5302.html"
Keep cool chipbmk!! Not sure where rudeness is coming into picture. It will be nice not to jump guns hastily. I was travelling since yesterday!

Actually, I dont have the OA (so dint post it initially) or OE (sorry guys!). But this problem seems to be a very tricky one to solve. Better to have a GMAT instructor guide us thru - will be sending a PM to help us all.
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Re: Value of y

by Testluv » Tue Nov 03, 2009 12:56 am
crackgmat007 wrote:What is the value of y?

(1) 3|x^2 - 4| = y - 2
(2) |3 - y| = 11
Hi guys,

the answer is C.

To have sufficiency, we need to find a single value for y.

Statement 1: "X?!?"...Not sufficient.

Statement 2: Absolute value? "3-y" can be either 11 to the right or 11 to the left of zero. So y equals two different values also. Not sufficient.

Combo:

We can't analyze the first statement without making assumptions. So, let's look at the second one.
"3-y" can be 11 units away from zero in one of two ways:

3-y = 11 or else 3-y = -11

So either y = -8 or else y = 14

The right hand side of the equation in statement two is y-2

If y = 14, then y-2 = 12

and

If y = -8, then y-2 = -10

But if y-2 = -10 we would have:

3*[x^2-4] = -10

Because absolute value is positive or zero, we would have:

3*pos = -10 or 3*0 = -10

Those two equations are clearly impossible.

Therefore, y cannot equal -8.
Leaving only one value (14) for y.

Note: Because we have no info about x, we can treat [x^2-4] as just [some number]. [any number] is either postive or zero.

The statements, although insufficient in isolation, are sufficient in combination. (C)
Kaplan Teacher in Toronto
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by crackgmat007 » Tue Nov 03, 2009 10:51 am
Thanks for the detailed explanation TestLuv.
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by getso » Tue Dec 22, 2009 8:40 pm
Great explanation Testluv.

Thanks a ton :-)
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