Reading Time: < 1 minute
Last Updated on May 6, 2023
GMAT OFFICIAL GUIDE DS
Solution:
We need to determine whether x is a negative number.
Statement One Alone:
9x > 10x
We can subtract 9x from both sides of the inequality:
9x – 9x > 10x – 9x
0 > x
Since 0 is greater than x, x is less than 0. In other words, x must be negative.
Statement one alone is sufficient to answer the question. We can eliminate answer choices B, C and E.
Statement Two Alone:
x + 3 is positive.
From statement two we see that x itself could be either positive or negative. Let’s use a few convenient values to illustrate.
If x is positive
Let x = 1:
1 + 3 = 4, which is positive.
If x is negative
Let x = -1:
-1 + 3 = 2, which is also positive.
Statement two alone is not sufficient to answer the question.
Answer: A
