SDW2
Hello,
if we add these 2 eqns--> y - 3x>= 2 and -y + 4x >2 what should be the sign of the resultant expression? x>=4 or x>4?
Is there any rule around the same? Also, please let me know the same if a similar cases arises for multiplication.
I am assuming this issue wont be a problem for subtraction or division since there we take the sign of the first term as is irrespective of = sign (please correct me if I am wrong)
Bunuel,
IanStewart,
KarishmaBIf you add y - 3x ≥ 2 and -y + 4x > 2, the result will be x > 4. Notice that y - 3x can be equal to 2 or greater than 2, but -y + 4x is definitely greater than 2. If you add something that is greater than or equal to 2 to something that is strictly greater than 2, you'll obtain some number strictly greater than 4. We would only obtain x ≥ 4 if both inequalities were greater than or equal to inequalities.
For multiplication, first note that even if a > b and c > d, it is not necessarily true that ac > bd. For instance, 1 > -2 and -3 > -4, but it is not true that 1 * -3 > -2 * -4. If we assume that a, b, c, and d are all positive, then it is true (because we can first multiply each side of a > b by c to obtain ac > bc, and multiply each side of c > d by b to obtain bc > bd, and then combine the two inequalities to obtain ac > bc > bd). In this case, if we have a ≥ b and c > d, multiplying the two inequalities together will give us ac > bd. This is because a ≥ b means either a > b or a = b. If a > b, then I just showed above that ac > bd. If a = b, then multiplying each side of c > d by a (which is equal to b), we again obtain ac > bd.