Kimberly77
BrentGMATPrepNow
Which of the following is closest to \(\frac{(\sqrt{150})(\sqrt{405})}{\sqrt{105}-\sqrt{50}}\)?
A) 10
B) 20
C) 40
D) 80
E) 120
Hi
BrentGMATPrepNow, I approximate it as \(\frac{(\sqrt{100 + 50})(\sqrt{400 + 5})}{\sqrt{100 + 5}-\sqrt{50}}\)
So I get (10 + 7) (20 * square_root 5 / 10 * square_root 5 - 7
17 * 20 * square_root 5 / 10 square_root 5 - 7 and get answer 113.3
What went wrong here? Could you advise? Thanks Brent
Hi Kimberly,
You are using a square root property that doesn't exist.
That is, there's no square root property that says \(\sqrt{x+y} = \sqrt{x} + \sqrt{y}\)
Tip: If you're not entirely sure whether a property is true, you can always test numbers.
For example \(\sqrt{4}\) can be written as \(\sqrt{1+1+1+1}\)
If we apply your faulty property we get, \(\sqrt{1+1+1+1} = \sqrt{1} + \sqrt{1} + \sqrt{1} + \sqrt{1} = 1+1+1+1 = 4\)
So, by applying your property we get \(\sqrt{4} = 4\), which is not true, which means the property can't be true.