Wednesday, September 15, 2010

If a, b, c are integers such that b>a, is b+c>a?

(1) c>a

(2) abc>c





statement (1)
in this case, you know that each of b and c is greater than a, but that's all you know.
if b and c are positive, then this is good enough, because then b + c will be greater than either b or c (both of which are already greater than a). so that's a Yes.
with negative values, though, you can get a No. if b = -2, c = -3, and a = -4, then b > a and c > a, but b + c < c =" 0"> 0 is impossible), so we should consider two separate cases: c is positive and c is negative.
if c is positive, then divide by it and don't flip the sign, giving ab > 1 (and c > 0). this means, among other things, that a and b have the same sign, and c > 0.
if c is negative, then divide by it and flip the sign, giving ab < a =" 1," b =" 2," c =" 3:" a =" -1," b =" 0," c =" -2:"> 0 and ab > 1, then all three of a, b, and c are positive. this means Yes to the question prompt, for reasons detailed above.
if c < b =" 0,"> a?' which is a Yes (because that's statement 1).
--- a and b have opposite signs: in this case b is positive and a is negative, because b must be bigger than a. but we already know c > a, so adding 'b' (which is positive) guarantees that b + c > a. so that's another Yes.
Yes + Yes + Yes = sufficient

Ans - C

No comments: