BJT Transistor Question

[stretched2thin]

I'm studying for the PE exam and am trying to refresh myself with transistor circuits. Everything has been making sense up to this point. Then I ran across the problem given below.

Can someone please tell me if there is an error in the problem or solution. It seems to me that a 5.4 volts swing on the OUTPUT rather than the INPUT would cause saturation. Because of the large gain of common base configurations, a much smaller input voltage would cause saturation. Am I missing something?

 

[cbarn24050]

Hi, I think you have spotted the missprint. Clearly you can't swing the input more negative than the vbe drop of the transistor.

 

[stretched2thin]

Thanks. I'm in the substation business, so transistor circuits are a little out of my normal mode of operation. I appreciate the help!