Questions about the world of GMAT Math from other sources and general math related questions.
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Why must 2 numbers be even?

by Guest Tue Jul 01, 2008 3:05 pm

Question deleted, as it is from the Official Guide. We regret that, for copyright reasons, we cannot discuss OG problems on this forum. Please refer to the Sticky post that details our posting policies.
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Re: Why must 2 numbers be even?

by Guest Tue Jul 01, 2008 10:03 pm

I'm confused by your formula because you only wrote (n-1)n(n+1). I'm not sure if you mean 3 or 4 consecutive integers, and didn't not whether or not they need to be positive.

If you meant 3, then there is a possibility that the integers could have two evens (2,3,4) or two odds (1,2,3).

If you have four consecutive integers there will always be two evens and two odds no matter which way you cut it. The factors of 4 are (2*2). One of the characteristics of an even number is that its divisible by two. So when you multiply and two numbers that contain 2's, the result will be divisible by 4.

The tricky part comes when you have -2, -1, -0, 1. Since the result is 0, I believe 0 is divisible by 4.

Hope this helps
RonPurewal
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Re: Why must 2 numbers be even?

by RonPurewal Wed Jul 02, 2008 6:40 am

which book? what is the source of this problem?

any problems posted in this folder must have sources cited; if you don't cite the source in the next few days, we'll have to remove the thread.
thank you.