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Fun problem

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Fun problem

by acecoolan » Mon Dec 29, 2008 11:54 am
Not sure if this has been posted before ....and not a typical GMAT problem..

Whats the smallest number which when

divided by 2 leaves a remainder of 1,
divided by 3, leaves a remainder of 2,
divided by 4, leaves a remainder of 3,
so on and so forth.

I am not looking for the answer but just the approach - the approach can be extended.

-A
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by dmateer25 » Mon Dec 29, 2008 1:01 pm
Maybe an expert can correct me if I am wrong, but I believe you just take 1 less than the least common multiple for this.

So the LCM is:

2^2 * 3 = 12

Answer would be 12 - 1 = 11
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by acecoolan » Mon Dec 29, 2008 3:01 pm
Right answer dmateer

-A
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Re: Fun problem

by rajataga » Mon Dec 29, 2008 10:59 pm
acecoolan wrote:
so on and so forth.

-A
Acecoolan, in your question it is stated that the question continues as above, so when divided by 5, remainder will be 4, when divided by 6......

so then the answer will be 'undefined' as the question can on till infinity
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Re: Fun problem

by ronniecoleman » Mon Dec 29, 2008 11:21 pm
acecoolan wrote:Not sure if this has been posted before ....and not a typical GMAT problem..

Whats the smallest number which when

divided by 2 leaves a remainder of 1,
divided by 3, leaves a remainder of 2,
divided by 4, leaves a remainder of 3,
so on and so forth.

I am not looking for the answer but just the approach - the approach can be extended.

-A
so on and so forth. ????
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Re: Fun problem

by dmateer25 » Tue Dec 30, 2008 4:18 am
rajataga wrote:
acecoolan wrote:
so on and so forth.

-A
Acecoolan, in your question it is stated that the question continues as above, so when divided by 5, remainder will be 4, when divided by 6......

so then the answer will be 'undefined' as the question can on till infinity
I don't think he was looking for the answer, but just the way that you would solve this type of question.
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Re: Fun problem

by acecoolan » Tue Dec 30, 2008 8:05 am
ronniecoleman wrote:
acecoolan wrote:Not sure if this has been posted before ....and not a typical GMAT problem..

Whats the smallest number which when

divided by 2 leaves a remainder of 1,
divided by 3, leaves a remainder of 2,
divided by 4, leaves a remainder of 3,
so on and so forth.

I am not looking for the answer but just the approach - the approach can be extended.

-A
so on and so forth. ????

As dmateer pointed out - I meant that an approach should work even if you extended the problem till 100 or 200 or any number ...

-A
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