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# Is pq = 1 ?

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Manager
Joined: 23 Oct 2011
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Is pq = 1 ? [#permalink]

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17 Nov 2011, 06:19
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50% (00:46) correct 50% (00:37) wrong based on 32 sessions

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Is pq = 1 ?

(1) p = 0 or pq = 1
(2) q = 0 or pq = 1
[Reveal] Spoiler: OA

Last edited by Bunuel on 08 May 2015, 09:11, edited 1 time in total.
Renamed the topic, edited the question and added the OA.

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Senior Manager
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Re: Is pq = 1 ? [#permalink]

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17 Nov 2011, 09:30
I'll go with C. because p*q = 1 common in both.
Whats OA?

Cheers!
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Manager
Joined: 20 Oct 2011
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Concentration: Sustainability, General Management
GMAT 1: 710 Q49 V38
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Re: Is pq = 1 ? [#permalink]

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17 Nov 2011, 09:35
Capricorn369 wrote:
I'll go with C. because p*q = 1 common in both.
Whats OA?

Cheers!

+1. I would go with C based on what is provided. When you put 1) and 2) together, p*q = 1 is common. So you know that p=0 and q=0 don't work.

Hence p*q = 1 and 1) and 2) are sufficient (assuming you solved for 1) and 2) correctly).

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Re: Is pq = 1 ? [#permalink]

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17 Nov 2011, 18:06
SonyGmat wrote:
I have a question that might be way easy.. maybe its because of the late hour... anyway... I will simplify it as much as possible.

Question: Is $$p*q=1$$?

statement 1: $$p=0$$ or $$p*q=1$$

statement 2: $$q=0$$ or$$p*q=1$$

I am sure we are all between C and E.

From statement 1 we know that since $$p=0$$ then $$q$$ can take any value, and $$p*q=0$$

From statement 2 we know that since $$q=0$$ then $$p$$ can take any value, and $$p*q=0$$

Those 2 statements share a solution! if $$p=0$$ and $$q=0$$!

Therefore there are 2 possible scenarios which makes E the correct answer.

I am not sure about the aforementioned solution and I would appreciate an input of an expert like karishma

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Re: Is pq = 1 ? [#permalink]

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17 Nov 2011, 23:26
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SonyGmat wrote:
I have a question that might be way easy.. maybe its because of the late hour... anyway... I will simplify it as much as possible.

Question: Is $$p*q=1$$?

statement 1: $$p=0$$ or $$p*q=1$$

statement 2: $$q=0$$ or$$p*q=1$$

Answer will be (E). Here is the reason:

Both statements together can hold for two different values of p*q.
p*q = 0 is possible. Both statements hold if p = 0 and q = 0. One condition of each statement is satisfied.
p*q = 1 is possible too. Again, one condition of each statement is satisfied.

Hence, we cannot answer the question: Is p*q = 1? It may or may not be.

Now think, if we change the question a little, what's the answer?

Question: Is $$p/q=1$$?

statement 1: $$p=0$$ or $$p/q=1$$

statement 2: $$q=0$$ or$$p/q=1$$

p.s. - If you would like to get my input on a particular post, just pm me the link. I open very few posts a day so I may not get to see your post otherwise.
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Get started with Veritas Prep GMAT On Demand for $199 Veritas Prep Reviews Kudos [?]: 17327 [2], given: 232 Manager Joined: 23 Oct 2011 Posts: 83 Kudos [?]: 113 [0], given: 34 Re: Is pq = 1 ? [#permalink] ### Show Tags 18 Nov 2011, 03:06 VeritasPrepKarishma wrote: Question: Is $$p/q=1$$? statement 1: $$p=0$$ or $$p/q=1$$ statement 2: $$q=0$$ or$$p/q=1$$ p.s. - If you would like to get my input on a particular post, just pm me the link. I open very few posts a day so I may not get to see your post otherwise. Thanks so much for your input! I will do so from now on P.S I believe the answer is B. Kudos [?]: 113 [0], given: 34 Senior Manager Joined: 11 May 2011 Posts: 355 Kudos [?]: 120 [0], given: 46 Location: US Re: Is pq = 1 ? [#permalink] ### Show Tags 18 Nov 2011, 08:44 VeritasPrepKarishma wrote: Question: Is $$p/q=1$$? statement 1: $$p=0$$ or $$p/q=1$$ statement 2: $$q=0$$ or$$p/q=1$$ p.s. - If you would like to get my input on a particular post, just pm me the link. I open very few posts a day so I may not get to see your post otherwise. I concur with your explanation Karishma. Thx. For the above new questions, [highlight]my answer is C[/highlight] because the common answer to both equations is p/q=1. (q=0 is undefined) Cheers! _________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What you do TODAY is important because you're exchanging a day of your life for it! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kudos [?]: 120 [0], given: 46 Manager Joined: 23 Oct 2011 Posts: 83 Kudos [?]: 113 [0], given: 34 Re: Is pq = 1 ? [#permalink] ### Show Tags 18 Nov 2011, 11:21 VeritasPrepKarishma wrote: Capricorn369 wrote: I concur with your explanation Karishma. Thx. For the above new questions, [highlight]my answer is C[/highlight] because the common answer to both equations is p/q=1. (q=0 is undefined) Cheers! It is a YES/NO question. That means that if we find a YES or a NO answer the statement is SUFFICIENT. If we have a YES and a NO answer it will be translated to a MAYBE which would make a statement INSUFFICIENT. Evaluating Statement 2, we have already a YES from p/q=1. The question now is whether q=0 will be translate as NO which would make the statement INSUFFICIENT. We know as a fact that q=0 and try to see whether p divided by q could ever equal 1. I guess in your view since it's undefined it can never equal 1 therefore it is NO. Having already a YES would make statement B INSUFFICIENT. In my view, even it is not stated in the question stem that q can never be 0, which is something that should be stated in order to define a division, it is common sense that q can never be zero. Which would make q=0 an answer that we should not consider and therefore make statement B SUFFICIENT. Kudos [?]: 113 [0], given: 34 Manager Joined: 20 Oct 2011 Posts: 123 Kudos [?]: 34 [0], given: 11 Location: Canada Concentration: Sustainability, General Management GMAT 1: 710 Q49 V38 GPA: 3.98 Re: Is pq = 1 ? [#permalink] ### Show Tags 18 Nov 2011, 12:20 SonyGmat wrote: VeritasPrepKarishma wrote: Capricorn369 wrote: I concur with your explanation Karishma. Thx. For the above new questions, [highlight]my answer is C[/highlight] because the common answer to both equations is p/q=1. (q=0 is undefined) Cheers! It is a YES/NO question. That means that if we find a YES or a NO answer the statement is SUFFICIENT. If we have a YES and a NO answer it will be translated to a MAYBE which would make a statement INSUFFICIENT. Evaluating Statement 2, we have already a YES from p/q=1. The question now is whether q=0 will be translate as NO which would make the statement INSUFFICIENT. We know as a fact that q=0 and try to see whether p divided by q could ever equal 1. I guess in your view since it's undefined it can never equal 1 therefore it is NO. Having already a YES would make statement B INSUFFICIENT. In my view, even it is not stated in the question stem that q can never be 0, which is something that should be stated in order to define a division, it is common sense that q can never be zero. Which would make q=0 an answer that we should not consider and therefore make statement B SUFFICIENT. Exactly, I don't believe I have EVER seen a question from an official GMAT source that is unambiguous on whether a number can be divided by 0. In nearly every case where a possibility "could" exist where a divisor becomes 0, GMAT always states that that variable is not equal to 0. Kudos [?]: 34 [0], given: 11 Veritas Prep GMAT Instructor Joined: 16 Oct 2010 Posts: 7670 Kudos [?]: 17327 [1], given: 232 Location: Pune, India Re: Is pq = 1 ? [#permalink] ### Show Tags 20 Nov 2011, 00:45 1 This post received KUDOS Expert's post Yes, good thinking. The answer for the new question would be (B). There is no way q can be equal to 0 since it is the denominator in p/q. Hence according to statement 2, p/q must be 1. You have to be careful about all such little things. _________________ Karishma Veritas Prep | GMAT Instructor My Blog Get started with Veritas Prep GMAT On Demand for$199

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Re: Is pq = 1 ? [#permalink]

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02 Jun 2016, 13:56
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Re: Is pq = 1 ?   [#permalink] 02 Jun 2016, 13:56
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