Data Sufficiency

[aliassad]

Hi,

I was just doing my gmat prep and after solving one of the questions came up with idea for this question. Hopefully we can learn something from it. Any feedback would be helpful


Is x=2?


St1:Any two consecutive even integers are multiples of x

St2: x is not a factor of any two consecutive integers

?

[tim]

As per the forum rules, we need a verifiable source for the problem before we can deal with this question. If the question is not one of ours or one that is copyright-free, we will have to delete the question..

Before we help with this question, we need you to show some effort of your own. What did you try on this question? Where did you get stuck?

[aliassad]

Actually I created this question on my own.

[tim]

ah, cool. i see now that you alluded to that in your post; sorry for overlooking that. are you throwing this problem out for others to solve or do you need help with it? if the latter is true, let us know what you did and where you got stuck and we can help you further..

[h.sidhu614]

I think we need both statements to know that x=2.

From statement 1, we can infer that x is either 1 or 2. But from statement two, we can be certain that x is not equal to 1. Hence I would go with both statements are required.

[aliassad]

That is correct

[RonPurewal]

That is correct

ya, that's a cool question. i like it.
i also like the fact that you're creating questions. that means that you're actually learning concepts, which you can then remix and manipulate in your head, rather than just trying to memorize a bunch of stuff.
this is all good. keep it up!

the only difference between this problem and an official gmac problem is that gmac would actually spell out the fact that the numbers in question are positive.
in other words, the question wouldn't just read "is x = 2?"; rather, it would read "if x is a positive integer, is x = 2?"
this gets rid of the possible objection that, say, -2 could be a solution to both statements.
gmac doesn't deal with "negative factors" anyway -- so, when you are solving the problems, you won't have to think about it -- but, if they wrote the question, they would be sure to exclude those cases anyway.

[aliassad]

Thanks Ron. Much appreciated. I think in order to succeed on exam , you need to tackle it aggressively rather than passively.

I feel official questions can be a great source of learning if you approach them from the perspective of learning rather than a mechanical chore of just solving.
So in place of 10,000 questions one should focus on solving 1,000 questions in 10 different ways.

[tim]

you seem to have a really good handle on how to study properly. i wish more students would approach the GMAT the way you do..