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# Is A positive? 1) x^2 -2x + A is positive for all x 2) Ax^2

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Intern
Joined: 18 Feb 2009
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Is A positive? 1) x^2 -2x + A is positive for all x 2) Ax^2  [#permalink]

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20 Apr 2009, 05:14
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Is A positive?

1) x^2 -2x + A is positive for all x
2) Ax^2 + 1 is positive for all x

My answer is E = Both together are not sufficient. However, test answer say A - Statement 1 is sufficient.

Explanation for statement 1 not sufficient

Case 1: A>0 say 6 then equation becomes x^2 - 2x + 6. Now if x=6 then equation will be equal to 30 which is greater than 0
Case 2: A 0.

Can someone please explain if I am missing something here or the answer is incorrect.

Thanks
Akshay

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GMAT Tutor
Joined: 24 Jun 2008
Posts: 1345
Re: Is A> 0 .... Math Test 13 # 23  [#permalink]

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20 Apr 2009, 15:56
aksnsr wrote:
Is A positive?

1) x^2 -2x + A is positive for all x
2) Ax^2 + 1 is positive for all x

My answer is E = Both together are not sufficient. However, test answer say A - Statement 1 is sufficient.

Explanation for statement 1 not sufficient

Case 1: A>0 say 6 then equation becomes x^2 - 2x + 6. Now if x=6 then equation will be equal to 30 which is greater than 0
Case 2: A<0 say -6 then equation becomes x^2 - 2x -6. Now if x=6 then equation will be equal to 18 which is also greater than 0.

So, S1 is true for both A less than 0 and greater than 0. So, we cant definitely say if A > 0.

Can someone please explain if I am missing something here or the answer is incorrect.

Thanks
Akshay

You haven't used a crucial piece of information in Statement 1:

x^2 -2x + A is positive for all x

That is, it must be positive for every value of x, not only for x = 6. In particular, x^2 - 2x + A must be positive when x = 0, so 0^2 - 2*0 + A > 0, or A > 0, and the statement is sufficient.

Statement 2 is not sufficient because A could be positive, or could be zero.
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Manager
Joined: 02 Mar 2009
Posts: 122
Re: Is A> 0 .... Math Test 13 # 23  [#permalink]

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21 Apr 2009, 02:28
Yes..

For statement 1, simply plug in x=0 to find that A>0.

Ian, in statement 2, A can be positive, 0 or negative (Say x=1/2 and A=-1/2).

Also, Akshay, you cannot assume a value for A first and then go about proving that the inequality is positive. It says that the inequality is positive for all values of x NOT for all values of A.

Hope this helps.
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Re: Is A> 0 .... Math Test 13 # 23  [#permalink]

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21 Apr 2009, 05:02
shkusira wrote:

Ian, in statement 2, A can be positive, 0 or negative (Say x=1/2 and A=-1/2).

No, if Statement 2 is true, A cannot be negative. Statement 2 tells us that: Ax^2 + 1 is positive for all x, and not only for x = 1/2. In your example, where A = -1/2, you can quickly see that Ax^2 + 1 will be negative for x = 10, for example, so A cannot be -1/2; that disagrees with the information in the statement. You can see that, if A is negative, Ax^2 + 1 will be zero (so certainly not positive) whenever $$x = \frac{1}{\sqrt{ |A| }$$. Plugging that in for x:

$$Ax^2 + 1 = A \left( \frac{1}{\sqrt{ |A| } \right)^2 + 1 = \frac{A}{|A|} + 1 = -1 + 1 = 0$$

and if $$|x| > \frac{1}{\sqrt{ |A| }$$, then Ax^2 + 1 will be negative, if A is negative. So if Statement 2 is true, A cannot be negative. A can, however, be zero, which is why the statement is insufficient.
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Intern
Joined: 18 Feb 2009
Posts: 5
Re: Is A> 0 .... Math Test 13 # 23  [#permalink]

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21 Apr 2009, 05:10
I agree my approach for picking up value of A was not appropriate.

But what was confusing me was that range of A was becoming unpredictable for other values of x. Say x=4 then A>-8. From this its not possible to say whether A>0.

But yes, as it says FOR ALL X - we do have a value for x (i.e. 0) from where we can say A>0

Thanks
Akshay
Intern
Joined: 14 Apr 2009
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Re: Is A> 0 .... Math Test 13 # 23  [#permalink]

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21 Apr 2009, 13:01
In stmt 1:

where: x^2 -2x + A is positive for all x

What if we take the following values:
x= 0 then A = +ve
x= 1 then 1-2+A = +ve
thus, -1 +A = +ve Thus A > 1
x= -1 then 1+2+A = +ve, CAN A here be "-2" then ?
Manager
Joined: 19 Aug 2006
Posts: 225
Re: Is A> 0 .... Math Test 13 # 23  [#permalink]

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22 Apr 2009, 21:13
aksnsr wrote:
Is A positive?

1) x^2 -2x + A is positive for all x
2) Ax^2 + 1 is positive for all x

My answer is E = Both together are not sufficient. However, test answer say A - Statement 1 is sufficient.

Explanation for statement 1 not sufficient

Case 1: A>0 say 6 then equation becomes x^2 - 2x + 6. Now if x=6 then equation will be equal to 30 which is greater than 0
Case 2: A<0 say -6 then equation becomes x^2 - 2x -6. Now if x=6 then equation will be equal to 18 which is also greater than 0.

So, S1 is true for both A less than 0 and greater than 0. So, we cant definitely say if A > 0.

Can someone please explain if I am missing something here or the answer is incorrect.

Thanks
Akshay

IMO A.

Since both statements > 0 for any value of x, then we should try to find such a value of x that combined with a<=0 would make the whole expression <=0. Plugging numbers for this one is not hard, and quick.

stmnt1 - whatever value you take for x, the expression will always be >0 only if a>0, try to pick numbers for x, e.g. x-2,0,5,etc.
sufficient

stmnt2 - if x=1, and a=-1, then the expression becomes 0: -1*1^2+1=0
try other values for x and a, and you will either confirm the whole expression true or false
insufficient
Manager
Joined: 02 Mar 2009
Posts: 122
Re: Is A> 0 .... Math Test 13 # 23  [#permalink]

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27 Apr 2009, 00:06
True..My bad Ian. Thanks for correcting!

--== Message from GMAT Club Team ==--

This is not a quality discussion. It has been retired.

If you would like to discuss this question please re-post it in the respective forum. Thank you!

To review the GMAT Club's Forums Posting Guidelines, please follow these links: Quantitative | Verbal Please note - we may remove posts that do not follow our posting guidelines. Thank you.
Re: Is A> 0 .... Math Test 13 # 23 &nbs [#permalink] 27 Apr 2009, 00:06
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