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Old 2007 November 4th, 12:23 PM   #1 (permalink)
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Ambiguous problem - Princeton Review

I encountered this problem in a Princeton test.

a = b + 2

Col A : (a^2) - 2ab + (b^2)
Col B : 2a - 2b

SPOILER: C



Shouldn't the answer be D...the values of a and b are not given.

Do we have problems like these in actual GRE ?
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Old 2007 November 4th, 12:28 PM   #2 (permalink)
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Yes we do face similar problems in GRE.

Given a+b = 2
Thus a-b = 2

Column A : a^2-2ab+b^2 = (a-b)^2 = 2^2 = 4

Column B : 2a - 2b = 2(a-b) = 2*2 = 4

Thus ANSWER :C

It is not a very difficult problem. But the key here is factorization of column A.

Hope that helps.
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Old 2007 November 4th, 12:36 PM   #3 (permalink)
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Yes thats an easy one. I marked it D straight away since values of a and b were not given.
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Old 2007 November 4th, 12:58 PM   #4 (permalink)
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Here are some formulae which you may find useful for solving some problems.

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Old 2007 November 4th, 04:37 PM   #5 (permalink)
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col a = x

col b = y

Given:

X > Y

What is the answer? Must it be D becuase no values are given?
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Old 2007 November 4th, 04:39 PM   #6 (permalink)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Serenity View Post
col a = x
col b = y
Given:
X > Y
What is the answer? Must it be D becuase no values are given?
Serenity , the given information is not a>b but precisely a=b+2

Refer to my post above. The answer is C
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Old 2007 November 4th, 04:46 PM   #7 (permalink)
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i'll be yearning for these kind of probs on 15 nov
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Old 2007 November 4th, 04:53 PM   #8 (permalink)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nitwit87 View Post
i'll be yearning for these kind of probs on 15 nov
Ah. Good Luck nitwit!

(Btw, quite an interesting username )
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Old 2007 November 4th, 11:15 PM   #9 (permalink)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by coyote View Post
Serenity , the given information is not a>b but precisely a=b+2

Refer to my post above. The answer is C
relax.

I made a new problem to illustate the point that variables have relationships even if their are not defined as numbers.
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Old 2007 November 5th, 02:32 AM   #10 (permalink)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Serenity View Post
relax.

I made a new problem to illustate the point that variables have relationships even if their are not defined as numbers.
Oops! Apologies, Serenity.
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