saurabhsavant wrote:
Bunuel wrote:
[quote="Bunuel"]What is the distance between a and b on the number line?
(1) |a| – |b| = 6
(2) ab > 0
What is the distance between a and b on the number line? We are asked to find the value of |a-b|.
(1) |a| – |b| = 6 --> if a=7 and b=1 then |a-b|=6 but if a=7 and b=-1 then |a-b|=8. Not sufficient.
(2) ab > 0 --> just says that a and b have the same sign. Not sufficient:
(1)+(2) If both a and b are positive then |a|-|b|=a-b=6 and |a-b|=6. If both a and b are negative then |a|-|b|=-a-(-b)=b-a=6, and |a-b|=6. So, in any case |a-b|=6. Sufficient.
Answer: C.
Hello Bunuel,
Your solution is well taken. However, I have been handling mod questions on the basis of "Distance from zero on number line" concept.
Can we cay that mod (a) denotes the distnace of "a" from zero?
If we can then option a states that the difference of "distance of a from zero" and "difference of b from" zero is equal to 6. the distance between "a" and "b" is 6 only. As only distance is required not the actual value. so whatever be the case, the distance of a and b will be 6 only.
taking an example, let the value of "a" be -67 i.e. "a" is at a distance of 67 units from zero n the number line, therefore as per the given statement (i) b can take values of -61 and -73, thereby giving two differnt values. hence SUFFICIENT.
From statement (ii) we see that either both a & b are positive or negative. Clearly INSUFFICIENT.
So, option A should be the answer,
What am I doing wrong here??
My concept is at stake
How is your examples correct? If a = -67 and b =-73, then |a| – |b| = -6, not 6.
|a| – |b| = 6 (|a| = 6 + |b|) means that a is 6 units further from 0, than b is.
You are considering the case when both a and b are negative. In my solution you can see an examples giving different answers:
Agreed that i botched up in calculations...have been struggling with this issue....but even if we get negative 6 as an answer still the "distance" between a and b remains 6.