Today’s SAT question of the day is a math question about the following number line:

They also tell us that .

The answer choices offer a set of relationships between different sections of the number line.

Though we could put in our own numbers, I will first solve with reasoning alone.

Through reasoning:

AC = AB + BC; it is made of the two smallest segments

CE = CD + DE; it is made of the two largest segments.

Therefore, AC will always be smaller than CE, which is choice B.

If we put in our own numbers, we have to think flexibly.  If we assign the 4 segments values of 1, 2, 3, and 4, we can run into statements that aren’t necessarily true; we would also have to try larger values for CD and DE in order to get the right answer (like 5 and 10).  We have no way of knowing the value of any single portion of the number line, so we have to make sure to think of each segment as “small” or “big” when testing the possible answer choices and not get hung up on the values that we might supply.