by RonPurewal Tue Oct 23, 2007 6:05 am
Couldn't n be less than 50, like 49? If so then the first statement would not be sufficient.
This isn't an issue. The first statement says that n is less than 62.5 (the midpoint of 50 and 75), as another poster has already pointed out. Draw a number line, put 50, 62.5, and 75 on it, and you'll notice that ANYTHING less than 62.5 is closer to 50 than to 75, no matter where it is. If you insist on treating numbers smaller than 50 as a different case, this ultimately doesn't change the conclusion:
* 60 is closer to 50 than to 75 (this is the type of number you apparently already had in mind)
* 50 itself is closer to 50 than to 75 (distance from 50 is zero, so it must be!)
* Numbers like 0 (and your example, 49) are closer to 50 than to 75. In fact, these numbers are always exactly 25 units closer to 50 than to 75.
Therefore, the first statement is sufficient (it's Yes for all three of the conditions in your trichotomy of <50, =50, and 50<x<62.5).
Hope that helps.