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# Is x>3?

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Intern
Joined: 04 Apr 2012
Posts: 8

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Updated on: 08 Jul 2012, 03:27
1
3
00:00

Difficulty:

25% (medium)

Question Stats:

75% (01:02) correct 25% (00:47) wrong based on 95 sessions

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Is x >3

(1) (x-1)^2 > 4

(2) (x-1)^2 > 9

Originally posted by aazhar on 07 Jul 2012, 18:44.
Last edited by Bunuel on 08 Jul 2012, 03:27, edited 1 time in total.
Edited the question and added the OA.
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Joined: 02 Sep 2009
Posts: 46207

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08 Jul 2012, 03:30
Is x >3

(1) (x-1)^2 > 4 --> $$x-1<-2$$ or $$x-1>2$$ --> $$x<-1$$ or $$x>3$$. Not sufficient.

(2) (x-1)^2 > 9 --> $$x-1<-3$$ or $$x-1>3$$ --> $$x<-2$$ or $$x>4$$. Not sufficient.

(1)+(2) Intersection of the ranges from (1) and (2) gives: $$x<-2$$ or $$x>4$$, so $$x$$ may or may not be greater than 3. Not sufficient.

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29 Mar 2017, 09:08
Top Contributor
aazhar wrote:
Is x >3

(1) (x-1)² > 4

(2) (x-1)² > 9

Bunuel's solution is perfect, so I won't re-use that strategy.
Another approach is to TEST some values of x.

Target question: Is x >3?

Statement 1: (x-1)² > 4
There are several values of x that satisfy statement 1. Here are two:
Case a: x = 10, in which case, x > 3
Case b: x = -10, in which case, x < 3
Since we cannot answer the target question with certainty, statement 1 is NOT SUFFICIENT

Statement 2: (x-1)² > 9
There are several values of x that satisfy statement 1. Here are two:
Case a: x = 10, in which case, x > 3
Case b: x = -10, in which case, x < 3
Since we cannot answer the target question with certainty, statement 2 is NOT SUFFICIENT

Statements 1 and 2 combined
NOTE: since we were able to use the same values of x to show that statements 1 and 2 ALONE are not sufficient, we can re-use them to show that statements 1 and 2 COMBINED are not sufficient
Case a: x = 10, in which case, x > 3
Case b: x = -10, in which case, x < 3
Since we cannot answer the target question with certainty, the combined statements are NOT SUFFICIENT

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Re: Is x>3?   [#permalink] 29 Mar 2017, 09:08
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