what about 0 in this question? is it odd or even?!!!

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by niketdoshi123 » Tue Aug 07, 2012 10:26 pm
mehaksal wrote:Is the product of three integers p,q, and r even?

1. (p-1)(r+1)is odd
2. (q-r)^2 is odd
odd & even properties

1) odd * odd = odd
2) odd - even = odd or even - odd = odd
3) odd + odd = even
4) odd^2 = odd*odd = odd
5) even^2 = even*even = even
question
is p*r*q is even ?
or is any one of p, q and r even?

statement 1
(p-1) is odd
(r+1) is odd
looking at the second property we can say that
p = odd + 1 = even
r = odd - 1 = even

p*q*r = even*even*? = even
Hence sufficient

Statement 2:

(q-r)^2 is odd
(q-r)*(q-r) = odd
odd*odd = odd
=> q-r is odd
from the second property we can say that either q or r is even.
p*q*r = ?*even*odd = even
or p*q*r = ?*odd*even = even

Hence sufficient

The correct answer is D

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by Brent@GMATPrepNow » Tue Aug 07, 2012 10:27 pm
mehaksal wrote:Is the product of three integers p,q, and r even?

1. (p-1)(r+1)is odd
2. (q-r)^2 is odd
The only way that pqr can be even is if at least one of the integers is even.
So, we can rewrite the target question as: Is at least one of the integers (p, q, or r) even?

Statement 1:
If (p-1)(r+1) is odd, then both (p-1) and (r+1) must be odd.
If p-1 is odd, p must be even.
Similarly, r+1 is odd, r must be even.
Since we can answer the target question with certainty, statement 1 is sufficient.

Aside: To answer your question, zero is an even number

Statement 2:
If (q-r)(q-r) is odd, then (q-r) must be odd.
If (q-r) is odd, then one of the two numbers (q or r) must be odd, and the other number must be even.
Since we can be certain that either q or p must be even, statement 2 is sufficient.

Answer = D

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Brent
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by Anurag@Gurome » Tue Aug 07, 2012 10:32 pm
mehaksal wrote:Is the product of three integers p,q, and r even?

1. (p-1)(r+1)is odd
2. (q-r)^2 is odd
(1) (p - 1)(r + 1) is odd.
If p = 2, r = 4, then (p - 1)(r + 1) = 1 * 5 = 5, odd. Here, whether q = even/odd, then p * q * r will always be even.
So, p * q * r = even; SUFFICIENT.

(2) (q - r)² is odd.
If q = 3, r = 2, then (q - r)² = 1, odd. Here if p = even/odd, then p * q * r = even always.
So, p * q * r = even; SUFFICIENT.

The correct answer is D.
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