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HCF

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Source: — Problem Solving |

by [email protected] » Sat Jul 16, 2016 4:16 pm
Hi sushil hande,

When posting GMAT questions, you should make sure to post the ENTIRE prompt (including the answer choices). In many cases, the answer choices provide a hint as to how you can go about solving the problem, but if we don't have those answers, then we're forced to take the 'math approach.'

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
Contact Rich at [email protected]
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by OptimusPrep » Sun Jul 17, 2016 8:43 pm
sushil hande wrote:HCF of 384 & a^5b^2 is 16ab.what is the correct relation between a and b?
You can write 384 as 128*3 or 2^7*3
The HCF of 2^7*3 and a^5b^2 = 16ab would contain the highest powers of the common multiples.
You can try solving ahead with this.

Let me know if this helps.
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by gauri14 » Sun Dec 30, 2018 10:29 pm
I tried solving this question even with the little hint given but still don't know how to proceed.
If it helps the options given for this question are as follows -
1) a = 2b
2) a + b =3
3) a - b = 3
4) a + b = 5
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by jaetpu » Thu Jan 03, 2019 10:44 pm
gauri14 wrote:I tried solving this question even with the little hint given but still don't know how to proceed.
If it helps the options given for this question are as follows -
1) a = 2b
2) a + b =3
3) a - b = 3
4) a + b = 5
Any conditions given for what a and b are? If a and b are prime,

prime factorization of 384 = 2^7 * 3, 16ab is 2^4*a*b. Thus a and b must be 3 and 2 (in either order). a+b=5
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by gauri14 » Fri Jan 04, 2019 4:45 am
jaetpu wrote:
gauri14 wrote:I tried solving this question even with the little hint given but still don't know how to proceed.
If it helps the options given for this question are as follows -
1) a = 2b
2) a + b =3
3) a - b = 3
4) a + b = 5
Any conditions given for what a and b are? If a and b are prime,

prime factorization of 384 = 2^7 * 3, 16ab is 2^4*a*b. Thus a and b must be 3 and 2 (in either order). a+b=5
No special condition for a and b. The answer for this is 5 like you've shown. Thanks for the help!
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