What is the slope of the line L ?

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What is the slope of the line L ? [#permalink]

11 Sep 2012, 22:30

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What is the slope of the line L ?

(1) Equation of line L is y = -4
(2) The line crosses neither the 3rd nor the 4th quadrant (it is not one of the axes)

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Re: What is the slope of the line L ? [#permalink]

12 Sep 2012, 00:17

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shivanigs wrote:

Hi,

Request help with the following question..thanks.

What is the slope of the line L ?

1.Equation of line L is y = -4
2.The line crosses neither the 3rd nor the 4th quadrant (it is not one of the axes)

(1) The slope of the line is 0. The equation can be written as y = 0\cdot{x}-4.
Keep in mind that the slope of a line is a number which represents the rate of change of the function y, meaning the ratio between the change in y and the change in x. The slope characterizes the steepness of the line. If there is no change in the value of y, (the function is constant) in fact there is 0 change, the line is horizontal.
Sufficient.

(2) It means the line is horizontal. If it would have been an increasing line, it must have intersect either the third or both the third and the fourth quadrant.
For a decreasing line, there must be intersection either with the fourth quadrant or both the third and the fourth quadrant.
Again, the slope is 0.
Sufficient.

Answer D.
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Re: What is the slope of the line L ? [#permalink]

12 Sep 2012, 01:28

What is the slope of the line L ?

(1) Equation of line L is y = -4. We have the equation of line L, which is enough to get the slope. Sufficient.

Notice that, y = -4 is a horizontal line which passes only through the 3rd and the 4th quadrants of a plane (the slope of any horizontal line is zero).

(2) The line crosses neither the 3rd nor the 4th quadrant (it is not one of the axes). Line L must be horizontal not to pass through the 3rd and the 4th quadrants, so its slope is zero. Sufficient.

Now, technically answer should be D, as EACH statement ALONE is sufficient to answer the question.

But even though formal answer to the question is D (EACH statement ALONE is sufficient), this is not a realistic GMAT question, as: on the GMAT, two data sufficiency statements always provide TRUE information and these statements never contradict each other.

So, the question is flawed. You won't see such a question on the test.

For more on Coordinate Geometry check: math-coordinate-geometry-87652.html

Hope it helps.
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Re: What is the slope of the line L ? [#permalink]

12 Sep 2012, 02:10

Bunuel wrote:

Now, technically answer should be D, as EACH statement ALONE is sufficient to answer the question.

But even though formal answer to the question is D (EACH statement ALONE is sufficient), this is not a realistic GMAT question, as: on the GMAT, two data sufficiency statements always provide TRUE information and these statements never contradict each other.

So, the question is flawed. You won't see such a question on the test.

Hope it helps.

Hi Bunuel
This information is new to me. Does it means answer choice D will always lead to a particular answer for question (ie if asking for value of x, both will lead to same value).
So can we use it as a cross check if we get different values as in this question.
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Re: What is the slope of the line L ? [#permalink]

12 Sep 2012, 02:13

SOURH7WK wrote:

Bunuel wrote:

No matter what the answer is the statements won't contradict each other. For D we should have the same answer (either the value or YES/NO) from both statements.
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Re: What is the slope of the line L ? [#permalink] 12 Sep 2012, 02:13

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What is the slope of the line L ?

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