Is the smallest of five consecutive integers even?

Answer is (B).

Condition 1:
Product of five consecutive integer = 0.

-1 X 0 X 1 X 2 X 3 = 0 (The smallest integer is -ve ODD integer)
Therefore INSUFFICIENT.

Condition 2:
Sum of five consecutive integer = 0
-2 - 1 + 0 + 1 + 2 = 0 (none other than value can satisfy this condition). The smallest integer is -ve EVEN. Hence SUFFICIENT.

Therefore answer is (B)

J!

Stmt 1 - Product of 5 integers is 0 means at least one no is zero. Doesn't matter whether the
smallest no is ODD or EVEN - NOT SUFF

Stmt2 - -2, -1 0 1 2 is the only set of five consecutive nos that will have sum 0 and smallest no
is even so SUFF

ANS B

codesnooker wrote:Answer is (B).

Condition 1:
Product of five consecutive integer = 0.

-1 X 0 X 1 X 2 X 3 = 0 (The smallest integer is -ve ODD integer)
Therefore INSUFFICIENT.

Condition 2:
Sum of five consecutive integer = 0
-2 - 1 + 0 + 1 + 2 = 0 (none other than value can satisfy this condition). The smallest integer is -ve EVEN. Hence SUFFICIENT.

Therefore answer is (B)

J!

A comment on your answer for statement (1):

"The smallest integer is odd - therefore insufficient."

This fact alone does NOT make the statement insufficient.

A statement is sufficient on a yes/no question if it gives a definite answer. A definite "yes" is suffcient, a definite "no" is also sufficient.

A statement is insufficient on a yes/no question if it can give both a yes and a no answer.

The reason why statement (1) is insufficient is that we can also pick the set {-2, -1, 0, 1, 2}. Is -2 even? YES.

So, since we can get both a "yes" and a "no" answer, (1) is insufficient.