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If sequences \(S\) has \(240\) terms, what is the \(239th\) term of \(S?\)

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by Vincen » Fri Jul 09, 2021 11:29 am

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If sequences \(S\) has \(240\) terms, what is the \(239th\) term of \(S?\)

1) Each term of \(S\) after the first term is \(4\) less than the preceding term.
2) The \(239th\) term of \(S\) is \(952\) less than the first term.

Answer: E

Source: GMAT Prep
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Source: — Data Sufficiency |

Vincen wrote:
Fri Jul 09, 2021 11:29 am
If sequences \(S\) has \(240\) terms, what is the \(239th\) term of \(S?\)

1) Each term of \(S\) after the first term is \(4\) less than the preceding term.
2) The \(239th\) term of \(S\) is \(952\) less than the first term.

Answer: E

Source: GMAT Prep
IMPORTANT: Statement 2 can be directly inferred from statement 1.
That is, if each term is 4 less than the previous term (e.g., 19, 15, 11, etc) then we can conclude that term2 will be 4 less than term1.
We can also conclude that term3 will be 8 less than term1, and:
term4 will be 12 less than term1.
term5 will be 16 less than term1.
.
.
.
term239 will be 952 less than term1 (same as statement 2).

So, as you can see, statement 2 DOES NOT PROVIDE ANY EXTRA INFORMATION beyond the information that statement 1 provided.

So, if statement 1 is NOT SUFFICIENT (which is clearly the case), then statement 2 cannot be NOT SUFFICIENT.
More importantly, the statements combined are NOT SUFFICIENT.

Answer: E
Brent Hanneson - Creator of GMATPrepNow.com
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