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I was looking at a practice SAT test and came to question 22 on the May 2002 test, which several of us couldn't find a correct answer among the answer choices

"IF x - 3 < 2 and y + 1 < -3, then the value of x + y could be

A) 0
B) 1
C) 2
D) 4
E) 8

over30's son

By Optimizerdad (Optimizerdad) on Wednesday, June 02, 2004 - 05:00 pm: Edit

x - 3 < 2 implies x < 5
and y + 1 < -3 implies y < -4

so x+y < (max value of x) + (max value of y)
< 5 -4
< 1

Among the possible answers, only (A) satisfies this condition.

By Number9 (Number9) on Wednesday, June 02, 2004 - 05:00 pm: Edit

.

By Optimizerdad (Optimizerdad) on Wednesday, June 02, 2004 - 05:05 pm: Edit

Number9:
Sorry, x=6 is infeasible; 6-3 is 3, which is not < 2.

By Benzinspeicher (Benzinspeicher) on Wednesday, June 02, 2004 - 08:40 pm: Edit

ok, i see that x-3<2; i say "what minus three equals two? wait, the number five scratches my itch; but the solution has to be less than two." and then i do the same with the other inequality and see that "y" would have to be less than -4. Then I perform the requested operation: x+y, or 5-4, and I get the value 1. Then I look at all the answer choices, and I see that only (a), which is 0, fits.

By Number9 (Number9) on Wednesday, June 02, 2004 - 10:22 pm: Edit

Hehe, I misread the question. You caught me before I edited it.