jscott319 wrote:
Hmm i think i am more confused after reading that the first time through....
I think i am missing the reason why the inequality sign for x < 0 should actually bex > 0. I determined x< 1 because i set the inequality of x - 1 < 0 and after subtracting from both sides give me x < 1 . What is different about x < 0 becoming x > 0 ?
x(x - 1) < 0 is not the same as x <0 and (x - 1)< 0
When I multiply two terms, the result is negative if and only if one of them is negative and the other is positive. When I multiply x with (x - 1), the result x(x - 1) will be negative (less than 0) in two cases:
Case I: x < 0
(x is negative) but (x - 1) > 0
(x - 1 is positive) (x - 1) > 0 implies x > 1
But this is not possible. x cannot be less than 0 and greater than 1 at the same time.
Case II: x > 0
(x is positive) but (x - 1) < 0
(x - 1 is negative) (x - 1) < 0 implies x < 1
This will happen when x lies between 0 and 1. i.e. when 0 < x < 1.
The link gives you the shortcut of solving inequalities of this type.
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