Discussion

Column A Column B
a/b   a2
(A)Column A is larger
(B)...
(C)...
(D)...
(E)...
(F)...
*This question is included in Nova Math - Problem Set H: Hard Quantitative Comparisons, question #6

The solution is

Posted: 01/03/2014 03:34
If I use a different numbers e.g a=1and b=2 then the answer will be option (B) since 1/2 is smaller than 1 which is 1^2.

Thanks
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Contributor
Posted: 01/13/2014 17:35
Haifa, but if use different numbers, the answer will not be B, so therefore we don't have enough information
Posted: 07/14/2016 05:47
Then why to use 2 different variables for same number..I don't understand y
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Admin
Posted: 07/14/2016 14:16
Hi Mourya,

Subconsciously, we often think that different letters stand for different numbers. But there is no such convention in mathematics. Unless stated otherwise, different letters can represent the same number. So, x can equal y, and they can both equal, say, 5:

x = y = 5

Nova Press
Posted: 07/28/2017 15:27
Reply: I agree with Bobbili. What is the point of two variables if they are equal values? You might as well right a/a if this is the case regardless if maths has this convention. This type of problem should be eliminated from tests.