Question: If k is not equal to 0, 1, or -1 is 1/k>0?
“If k is not equal to 0, 1, or -1 is 1/k>0?”- is a topic of the GMAT Quantitative reasoning section of GMAT. This question has been taken from the book "GMAT Official Guide". GMAT Quant section consists of a total of 31 questions. GMAT Data Sufficiency questions consist of a problem statement followed by two factual statements. GMAT data sufficiency comprises 15 questions which are two-fifths of the total 31 GMAT quant questions.
Solution and Explanation:
Approach Solution 1:
If k#0, 1 or -1 is 1/k>0?
Basically the question asks: is k>0?
(1) 1/k−1>0 --> denominator is positive: k−1>0--> k>1, hence 1/k>0. Sufficient.
(2) 1/k+1>0--> denominator is positive: k+1>0 → k>−1, hence k can be negative as well as positive: 1/k may or may not be >0. Not sufficient.
Correct Answer: A
Approach Solution 2:
(1)k−1 is positive. So k must be greater than 1,
Actually, k−1>0, k>1, So; 1/k>0. Sufficient.
(1) k+1 is positive, but k can be a negative fraction such as -0.5 is k+1>0, k can be 2. Actually, k+1>0, or k>−1;
So; 1/k>0 can be Negative or Positive.
Insufficient.
Correct Answer: A
Approach Solution 3:
Let us take statement I - In this, it is given that 1/(k-1) >0. This implies that k must be positive and k must be greater than 1. Hence, 1/k is definitely greater than zero. For example, k's value is 2, then 1/(2-1) = 1 which is > 0. This implies that 1/2 = 0.5 which is still greater than '0'. Hence, this is sufficient.
Let us take II - It says 1/ (k+1) > 0 which means that this will satisfy both positive and negative values of k which are less than -1. For example, if k is 2, 1/(k+1) is >0 and 1/k wll be >0. But if k's value is -0.5, it will satisfy the second equation but 1/k will be -2 which is <0 and hence, INSUFFICIENT.
Correct Answer: A
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