Gmatguy007
Consider the following set of inequalities: p > q, s > r, q > t, s > p, and r > q. Between which two quantities is no relationship established?
A. p and r
B. s and t
C. s and q
D. p and t
E. r and t
PS09502.01
Guys, I'd like you to help me clear out a point.
Since p<s and r<s then we can say that there is a relationship between p,r (for instance if p=8 and r=9 then p<r or for p=8 and r=7 p>r).
The reason we choose A is because the direction of the inequality depends on the value of the variables p,r whereas in the other choices is fix?
From p > q,
s > r, q > t,
s > p, and r > q we can get that:
and:
As you can see we know that:
However, we cannot say whether p > r, p < r, or p = r.
That's exactly where i am confused. According to the highlighted inequalities we can say that r,p aren't equal since firstly in both inequalities there isn't the '=' and also we would have the same inequality twice. But by selecting values we can say if one of them is greater or smaller than the other. The only problem is that the result changes (as in the example above).
However, since s is greater than both r,p it follows that these two (r,p) as being smaller than s, the one will be smaller/greater than the other (let's say s=20 thus r,p<20 so it could be r=7 and p=13 and in this case it is p>r or r=19 and p=5 so it is r>p. in both cases it is still true that s>r and s>p).