Approach to inequalities

[jmaynardj]

Besides doing problems is there any best way or advice to approach questions with inequalities? Especially The DS one. They kill me.

[dkrich]

I would say there are a couple of things that it seems to me that the GMAT loves to concentrate on with regard to inequalities-

1. The concept of fractions between -1 and 1, and particularly how the values change when squared. Know those properties well.

2. Whether you are willing to go the extra step to consider all possibilities of every variable in an inequality. I have seen plenty of questions where it is tempting to stop short of considering that -x could actually be positive if x is negative, etc.

Outside that you need to know number properties and their square's properties inside out so that you can approach DS with variables with an abstract mindset, and quickly apply those properties to hone in on what the GMAC is angling at with each statement.