Quantitative Comparison Strategies Flashcards
7 cards from real GRE practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Quantitative Comparison Strategies flashcards as text
Given 0 < a < b, Quantity A: 1/a. Quantity B: 1/b. Which is correct?
Answer: Quantity A is greater
For positive numbers, the larger denominator gives the smaller reciprocal, so 1/a > 1/b.
Quantity A: the perimeter of a square with area 16. Quantity B: the perimeter of a rectangle 2 by 8. Which is correct?
Answer: Quantity B is greater
The square has side 4 and perimeter 16, while the rectangle has perimeter 2(2+8)=20.
Given x + y = 10, Quantity A: xy. Quantity B: 25. Which is correct?
Answer: Quantity B is greater
With a fixed sum of 10, xy is maximized at x=y=5 giving 25, so xy is at most 25.
Quantity A: 3/7. Quantity B: 4/9. Which is correct?
Answer: Quantity B is greater
Cross-multiplying gives 3·9=27 versus 4·7=28, so 4/9 is greater.
Given x is an integer with -3 ≤ x ≤ 3, Quantity A: |x|. Quantity B: 2. Which is correct?
Answer: The relationship cannot be determined
|x| ranges from 0 to 3 across the allowed values, so it can be less than, equal to, or greater than 2.
Quantity A: the median of {2, 4, 6, 8, 100}. Quantity B: the mean of {2, 4, 6, 8, 100}. Which is correct?
Answer: Quantity B is greater
The median is 6 while the mean is 120/5=24, so the mean is greater because of the outlier.
Given a triangle has two sides of length 5 and 9, Quantity A: the third side's length. Quantity B: 14. Which is correct?
Answer: Quantity B is greater
By the triangle inequality the third side must be less than 5+9=14, so Quantity B is greater.