What is the remainder when positive integer is divided by 8

This topic has expert replies
Source: — Data Sufficiency |

Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts
Posts: 6
Joined: Fri Jun 26, 2009 8:03 pm
Thanked: 1 times

by amitsahdev » Sat Jul 04, 2009 10:21 pm
What is the remainder when positive integer n is divided by 8 ?
1.When n is divided by 12 , remainder is 5 .
2. When n is divided by 18,remainder is 11.
Can you please tell me how to form the equation and solve this ?
I tried the number method

I tried doing this by trying to think about what nos. will leave the provided remainders in both statements.
For statement 1-if n=7, 7/12 has a remainder of 5 and for statement 2-if n = 7 again the remainder is 11. Given that on the GMAT two statements will never contradict, either statement reinforces the other. Thus, n=7 and 7/8 leaves a remainder of 6.

Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 435
Joined: Sat May 02, 2009 3:55 am
Thanked: 17 times
freakomalay wrote:What is the remainder when positive integer n is divided by 8 ?

1.When n is divided by 12 , remainder is 5 .
2. When n is divided by 18,remainder is 11.

Can you please tell me how to form the equation and solve this ?
I tried the number method .
29 and 65 satisfy both statements and remainder when divided by 8 is 5 and 1 respectively.

Hence E

Legendary Member
Posts: 2467
Joined: Thu Aug 28, 2008 6:14 pm
Thanked: 331 times
Followed by:11 members

by cramya » Sun Jul 05, 2009 12:05 am
When a particular n leaves different remainders when divided by different integers then to find the pattern

1) Find the first number (for this problem 29)
2) Find lcm of 2 divisors (12,18) i.e. 36

The pattern is 36q+29 where q=0,1,2,3......

29,65,137 etc....

E

Finding the pattern comes in handy for remainder problems.

Hope this helps.

Regards,
CR