How to find the number of integers between two other integers - GRE Quantitative Reasoning

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Question

0 < x < y < z < 10

x, y, and z are integers.

Quantity A: –7

Quantity B: x + y – z

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Answer

Since:

  1. There are only 9 integers between 0 and 10
  2. x, y, and z must all be unique
  3. They must be specifically ordered such that x < y < z

There are actually not too many ways in which these numbers can be chosen. So what we can do is find a range of answers for Quantity B, and see if 6 falls a) below b) above or c) in between the range.

For the maximum:

Note that the term (x + y) is maximized when x and y are maximum. The (–z) term is maximized when z is minimized. However, there are 2 terms in (x + y) and one term in (–z); thus intuitively it seems we should prioritize (x+y). To make x and y maximum:

0 < 7 < 8 < 9 < 10 since x, y, and z must be unique.

Thus maximum: (x + y – z) = 7 + 8 – 9 = 6

For the minimum:

Note that (x + y) is minimum when (x) and (y) are minimum, and (–z) is minimum when (z) itself is maximimized. However since there are 2 terms in (x+y) and1 of (–z) , again intuititively you should prioritize (x+y) over (-z). Then in order to make this the least number possible, x and y would be:

min(x + y – z) = 1 + 2 – 9 = –6

Thus, the range of possible answers is:

(x + y – z): \[–6, 6\]

and –7 is always less than this amount.

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