Set 5Q 36 - consequtive odd integers

arocks

What is the sum of a certain pair of consecutive odd integers?

(1) At least one of the integers is negative.
(2) At least one of the integers is positive.

I think the answer should be E. But the OA is C.

Please explain. Thanks.

My approach - stmt 1 insuff. as one integer can be negative...or two can be negative. It says atleast so we can't be sure.
Similarly stmt 2 insuff.

Even if we combine - the three odd integers could be
-3,-1,1 or -1,1,3 satisfying both the conditions.

josephcho77 · Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2007 6:58 am Post subject:

When you combine 1 and 2, the only solution woul be -1 and 1

-3, -1 or 1,3 does not satisfy the both conditions since -3, -1 are both
negative and 1,3 are both positive.

least one is positive and least one is negative pair of consecutive odd integers are only -1 and 1

Guest · Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2007 6:58 am Post subject:

I think when they say “pair” they mean there are 2 terms in the set. Having said that, we can only know the sum if we know that one term is negative and one term is positive. With the constraints that the terms are consecutive odd numbers, we can draw a conclusion that the terms must be -1 and 1, so the sum would be 0.

arocks · Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2007 7:17 am Post subject:

Thanks. You are absolutely right.

I am not sure why i missed the word 'pair'. I some how thought we had more than two numbers. Was on the wrong track!