by Harish Dorai Sat Aug 04, 2007 10:49 am
Regarding Q139:
I made a mistake once in a similar situation, where I converted the inequality x/y > 1 as x > y.
It is absolutely correct to make such a conversion, but in the process we need to make sure that both the conditions x/y > 1 and x > y is satisfied.
Example: Let us assume x = -3 and y = -4. In this case x > y, but x/y is < 1.
So when we simplify inequalities, you always have to be very careful and consider all the possible combinations of Positive and negative values for variables.
In your problem, take Statement (1), x > 0.
We can have multiple situations for variable y, which is as below:
a) y > 0 (y > x)
b) y > 0 (y <= x)
c) y = 0
d) y < 0 (with |y| > x)
e) y < 0 (with |y| < x)).
Please note you cannot have a situation where |x| = |y| when y is negative (In the question it is given x is not equal to -y)
If you work out examples for above situations, we can find that we will get inconsistent results for (x - y)/(x + y). In certain cases it could be > 1, but not in all cases. So INSUFFICIENT.
Statement (2): We can do the same thing by assuming various conditions for variable x, and we will get inconsistent results. So INSUFFICIENT.
If you combine (1) and (2), you are narrowing it down to situations (d) and (e) mentioned above. So you can work out an example for that.
Situation (d): Take x = 3 and y = -4. x - y = 7, x + y = -1 So (x - y) / (x + y) is -7 which is not greater than 1.
Situation (e): Take x = 3 and y = -2 x - y = 5, x + y = 1 So (x - y)/(x + y) is 5, which is greater than 1.
So even after combining (1) and (2), we cannot get a definite answer. So answer is (E), I guess.
I will give my explanation for Q140 in my next post, as my explanations are getting longer :)