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Integers

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Source: — Data Sufficiency |

by Anurag@Gurome » Thu Jan 20, 2011 3:31 am
Ramit88 wrote:If n and y are positive integers and n represents the no. of different positive factors of y , is y a perfect square?

1. √n is an odd int
2. y = √[5^{2(n-1)}]
If an integer is not perfect square, then the number of different positive factors of that integer is always even. And if it is a perfect integer, then the number of different positive factors of that integer is always odd.

Statement 1: √n is an odd integer.
Hence n is also an odd integer. Thus y must be a perfect square.

Sufficient

Statement 2: y = √[5^{2(n-1)}] = 5^(n - 1)
For y to be a perfect square, √y must be an integer.
Thus, √(5^(n - 1)) must be an integer. Which is only possible when (n - 1) is even. But we don't know anything about n.

Not sufficient

The correct answer is A.
Anurag Mairal, Ph.D., MBA
GMAT Expert, Admissions and Career Guidance
Gurome, Inc.
1-800-566-4043 (USA)

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