VJesus12 wrote:Is b an even integer?
(1) The product of b and integer c is even.
(2) b is divisible by 4.
Target question: Is b an even integer?
Statement 1: The product of b and integer c is even.
Let's TEST some values.
There are several values of b and c that satisfy statement 1. Here are two:
Case a: b = 2 and c = 3. Here, the product bc = (2)(3) = 6, which is even. In this case, b = 2, so the answer to the target question is
YES, b IS even
Case b: b = 3 and c = 2. Here, the product bc = (3)(2) = 6, which is even. In this case, b = 3, so the answer to the target question is
NOT, b is NOT even
Since we cannot answer the
target question with certainty, statement 1 is NOT SUFFICIENT
Statement 2: b is divisible by 4.
By definition, this means we can write: b = 4k for some integer k
We can rewrite this as: b = (
2)(2)(k) for some integer k
This means b is a multiple of
2, which also tells us that b is EVEN
So the answer to the target question is
YES, b IS even
Since we can answer the
target question with certainty, statement 2 is SUFFICIENT
Answer: B
Cheers,
Brent
