The Holistic Approach to Absolute Values - Part III

A while  back, we discussed some holistic approaches to answering absolute value questions. Today, we will enhance our understanding of absolute values with some variations that you might see on the GMAT. Instead of looking at how to solve equations, like we did in our  previous post, we will look at how to solve inequalities using the same concept. A quick review: |x| = The distance of x from 0 on the number line. For example, if |x| = 4, x is 4 away from 0. So x can be 4 or -4. |x 1| = The distance of x from 1 on the number line. For example, if |x 1| = 4, x is 4 away from 1. so x can be 5 or   -3. |x| + |x 1| = The sum of distance of x from 0 and distance of x from 1 on the number line. for example,  if x = 5, the distance of x from 0 is 5 and the distance of x from 1 is 4. The sum of the distances is 5 + 4 = 9. So |x| + |x 1| = 5 + 4 = 9. Lets move ahead now and see how we can use these concepts to solve inequalities: For how many integer values of x, is |x – 3| + |x + 1| + |x| 10? (A) 0 (B) 2 (C) 4 (D) 6 (E) Infinite In  the previous post, we saw the  a similar question, except it involved an equation rather than an inequality. For that problem, we found that the two points where the total distance is equal to 10 are -2.667 and 4: What will be the total distance at any value of x between these two points? Say, x = 0 |x 3| + |x + 1| + |x| = 3 + 1 + 0 = 4 Say, x = 3 |x 3| + |x + 1| + |x| 0 + 4 + 3 = 7 In both cases, we see that the total distance covered is less than 10. Note that the minimum distance covered will be 4 at x = 0 (discussed in the previous post) so by moving to the right of 0 or to the left of 0 on the number line, we get to the points where the distance increases to 10. So for every point in between, the total distance will be less than 10  (the entire red region). Hence, at integer points x = -2, -1, 0, 1, 2 and 3 (which are all between -2.667 and 4), the total distance will be less than 10. The total distance will be less than 10 for all non-integer points lying between -2.667 and 4 too, but the question only asks for the  integer values,  so that is all we need to focus on. (Of course, there are infinite non-integer points between any two distinct points on the number line.) Hence, the answer will be 6 points, or D. Along the same lines, consider a slight variation of this question: For how many integer values of x, is |x – 3| + |x + 1| + |x| 10? (A) 0 (B) 2 (C) 4 (D) 6 (E) Infinite What will the answer be here? We hope you immediately jumped to answer choice E for every integer value of x to the right of 4 or to the left of -2.667, the total distance will be more than 10  (the blue regions). So there will be infinite such integer points (all integers greater than 4 or less than -2.667). Thus, the answer is E. We hope  this logic is clear. We will look at some other variations of this concept next week! Getting ready to take the GMAT? We have  free online GMAT seminars  running all the time. And, be sure to follow us on  Facebook,  YouTube,  Google+, and  Twitter! Karishma, a Computer Engineer with a keen interest in alternative Mathematical approaches, has mentored students in the continents of Asia, Europe and North America. She teaches the  GMAT  for Veritas Prep and regularly participates in content development projects such as  this blog!